Card Master Touya
by moonstone glows
Summary: When Touya loses his family one horrible day, how does his lover ensure that he isn't taken from Touya's side? T/YY CROSSOVER Harry Potter
1. Chapter 1

Yue and Cerberus sat on the roof of the Kinomoto house, looking down into the garden. Touya sat huddled against the wall in the corner of the garden, his arms wrapped around his legs and his head buried in his knees.

"What are we going to do, Kero? We're supposed to return to the book and await a new master, but I can't….I won't leave him like this. He can't lose his little sister; his father and his lover in one go. It would destroy him."

"The cards would probably accept him as their master, you are the Judge, and you already said you want to stay with him, and between you, you have enough magic that there will be no issues over you losing power while he converts them, thanks to his father."

"And would you accept him? It is your place to choose the new masters."

"Yue, you are my little brother, I do not want to see you unhappy. He was powerful before he gave you his magic; he is powerful again since his father gave him the power of Clow. I…..I would have chosen him in the first place, if I had realized how much of himself he was hiding."

"It was better with Sakura first, I think. I would have fought harder against someone so much like Clow. Will you go and get the book, Kero? I should go to him."

"Of course."

Yue lifted from the roof, floating down to where his lover huddled.

"Oh Touya," he sighed, kneeling and gathering his love into his arms, closing his wings around him. He was relieved when Touya responded to his presence, wrapping his arms around Yue's waist and burying his face in the Guardian's chest.

"It isn't fair Yue," he whispered.

"I know," Yue agreed, stroking dark hair lightly.

Kero landed with the book, the key in the lock, and the ribbon Sakura had used to wear it trailing forlornly across the cover.

"Touya, I know this has been a really bad day, your little sister and your father have just died pointlessly, but we have to do this now," Yue said.

"What?" Touya looked up, puzzled, and saw the book Kero had set on the ground.

"What's going on?" Touya asked.

"You have to take mastery of the cards. Now."

"No, they're Sakura's. I can't take them."

"Touya, if you don't take them, now, then come dawn, Kero and I will be pulled back into the book and it will sleep to await its new master."

Touya looked up at his lover in horror.

"You mean I lose you too?"

"Yes, and there is nothing we can do about it, unless you take on the cards. I'm certain Sakura-san would have preferred you take them."

"I'm certain that Sakura would have preferred that she and father not get killed by some drunk driver," Touya said bitterly. He felt Yue flinch at that, and whispered a quiet apology.

"I know you're hurting, koi," Yue assured him.

Kero nosed the book closer to them, waiting with more patience than Touya would have thought him capable of.

"Don't I have to capture them, like she did?" he asked.

"Yue and I have both chosen you, but you can allow the cards the option, if you wish," Kero told him.

"How?"

"Open the book, and read out the name of the top card. If they scatter, you'll have to gather them once more, if they don't, they accept you."

Touya reached for the book, feeling the thrum of magic around it that felt so much like his little sister. He pushed back the grief that threatened to swallow him once more, and opened the book, reaching in for the top card.

"Thunder," he said softly.

There was a shiver, and the cards started lifting from the book. For one moment, Yue thought they were going to scatter, but they began to split between Kero and himself, surrounding their Guardians, tiny voices frightened and confused by the sudden loss of their mistress. He and Kero reached out to their cards, offering reassurance, offering them an already chosen and judged master.

Touya watched silently as the cards circled Kero and Yue, hoping that they would accept him, that they wouldn't take Yue from him.

None of them was watching the Thunder card, which Touya still held, so no-one saw the colors start to change, black and gold flowing out from where his fingers held to engulf the card, the seal on the back changing from Sakura's star to a stylized sun being eclipsed by a full moon. Once the change was complete, the card pulled free of his loose grip, rising between the two groups of cards proudly before pointedly returning to the book.

"What, how?" Touya whispered, stunned.

"Thunder has chosen, and taken on your power and seal without you even changing the wand," Kero said in awe.

After a moment, the rest of the cards one by one returned to the book, which flipped shut behind them.

"They accept me?" he asked.

"Yes, take the key, you need to change the wand, then you need to sleep. Tomorrow we can worry about getting the rest of the cards changed," Kero instructed.

xxx

Half a world away, Hiiragizawa Eriol and Kaho hurriedly finished packing suitcases, and Kaho silently went to make sure Akizuki was finished packing. Tomoyo's call telling them of Sakura and Fujitaka's deaths had come as a huge shock to them all. Eriol had received no visions that they were to die, and now he was concerned about his 'son by proxy' and Kero and Yue, knowing that this loss would have devastated them all.

"We're all ready," Kaho told him quietly when she came back in.

"Good. Kero and Yue will have been pulled back into the book by the time we get there, but I should be able to summon them long enough to make sure they're ok."

"Eriol, I'm really worried about Touya-kun. Losing his family and his lover will destroy him."

"I know, I may have to alter his memories, to ease the pain for him. That should be possible now that he is without his powers."

"Don't you think he's a little unkind, to take away his memories of a love that meant so much to him. He's only had two lovers in his life, and I broke his heart, damaged his ability to trust. If you take Yue and Yukito from him, he'll return to the damaged person he was, and no-one will ever be special enough to get through to him ever again."

"We'll see when we get there," he sighed. He didn't want to hurt Touya's future, but he couldn't see any way around the two Guardians being pulled back into the book.

xxx

Yue stirred from a restless sleep, feeling a shiver of approaching magic in the air. Old and young at the same time, the paradox was familiar.

"Hiiragizawa," he hissed.

Touya shifted beside him, his own sleep disturbed by the sibilant sound.

"Yue?" he asked.

"Hiiragizawa is coming; he's close to the house now."

"He's not going to be a problem is he?"

"He shouldn't be. Kero and I accepted you, the cards chose you, and you have the power to wield them. It is none of his concern beyond that."

"Good."

Touya rolled quickly out of bed and pulled some clothes on, there was no way he was facing Hiiragizawa in his night clothes.

The doorbell rang as the two stepped out of the bedroom, and they met Kero in the hall.

"It's _him,_" Kero rumbled emphatically.

"Yes," Yue agreed.

Touya started down the stairs as the bell rang again, leaving it up to them if they followed or stayed up here, out of Hiiragizawa's way.

Outside, Eriol was looking up at the house with a frown.

"Give him a chance, Eriol," Kaho chided him.

"What? Oh no, it's not impatience. I can sense Yue and Cerberus active in the house."

"Could they have rejected the summons to return to the book?"

"Not without finding a new master."

Touya opened the door then, and Eriol could clearly see the transformed key, now black and gold, hanging from a leather thong around his neck.

"Touya-san, Tomoyo-chan informed us of the accident, our sympathies."

"Thank you. You'd best come in," Touya said, stepping back to allow entry.

He sensed Yue ghost up behind him and smiled faintly at that silent support. Touya led them to the living room and waved them to a seat.

"Can I get you anything?" he asked politely.

"No, thank you. Touya-san, how are you?"

"Angry, missing them. I'll survive."

"Tomoyo-chan didn't mention that you had taken on the card captor role, or that you had your magic back."

"I haven't, the cards are in the book, waiting to be changed. They have accepted me. And the magic was no-one's business but ours."

"Kinomoto-san, I don't think you understand how complex this is going to be. You need to capture them to build up the skill to use them, that's the only way to change them."

"Thunder didn't think so," Yue said.

"What?" Eriol asked.

"Thunder changed by choice," Kero rumbled, padding in, once more carrying the book. He dropped it into Touya's lap, and then sat at his feet, bracketing him between him and Yue, the three of them clearly united against Eriol.

Touya opened the book, and all of the cards hesitantly floated up and hovered in a circle, Thunder, the new colors clear and bright, hovering front and center. With a shimmer, the cards took on their spirit forms, Thunder curling up complacently, head on his paws, while the others found space around the room.

Dark and Light stepped forward, arm in arm, the two beautiful women looking down at Eriol.

"He is ours. He was chosen and AGREED by our ruling cards. You gave up any right to interfere when you locked us in the book and died, Clow. We loved our mistress, she was kind and gentle, and she would wish us to remain safe in the keeping of the 'nii-san. We do not wish to run, we do not wish to hide and make him battle for what he already has, our respect. We were offered the choice, which is more than we ever got from you, Clow. We were offered the choice, and we made it."

Behind them, one by one, the spirits re-took their card forms, all now wearing the new colors. Touya's name marked on their faces, and the eclipsed sun on the back. Dark and Light were the last, and they each kissed Touya lightly on the cheek before returning to the book. Touya swayed, paling, the drain of 51 cards pulling on even his magic to change taking its toll on him. He was very glad he hadn't had to fight them, he suspected he was going to have plenty of battles soon enough.

"My God, how powerful are you?" Eriol whispered.

"Don't you know?" Touya asked, genuinely surprised.

"He is more powerful than Clow," Yue answered bluntly.

"How is that possible?" Kaho asked.

"His father's gift replenished what Touya-san had given to Yue, but the added strength released hidden reserves that had been locked away out of reach," Kero snorted.

Eriol was stunned, he had known that Touya had more power than he ever admitted before he had given it up to save Yue, but the power that he wielded now was beyond anything Eriol had imagined. He wondered what would happen when the Li family arrived, he had asked them to come and get the book until it was time for it to wake again, and Touya had hated Sayoran on sight.

"So now that you know the cards and the Guardians are safe, is there anything else?" Touya asked.

"No. We would like to attend the services, if you have no objections."

"They're being buried in the family plot, the day after tomorrow, you're welcome to attend. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have much to do before then," Touya said, tired of holding back the grief to appear strong in front of them.

"Of course."

After they had left, Touya slumped into Yue's arms, burying his face in the familiar delicate scent of his neck. Kero pressed close, offering what support he could.

Yue held him tightly, wishing there was some way to ease the pain in Touya's heart. Touya had loved his family so much, and his heart was much tenderer than he had revealed to anyone but Yue.

xxx

Many people attended the burial of Fujitaka and Sakura, but Touya stood apart from everyone except Yukito, his midnight blue eyes dark and remote.

The service ended, and people lined up to pay their respects to the withdrawn young man. Sonomi and Tomoyo reached him, and Sonomi impulsively hugged him, not releasing him until she realized he had gone tense and rigid in her embrace. Tomoyo shook her head fractionally; she had told her mother that Touya-san hated to be touched, even their classmates had known better than to make physical contact with Touya.

"I am so sorry for your loss, Touya-san. Please, if there is anything you need, do not hesitate to ask."

"Thank you, Daidouji-san," he said distantly.

They were about to move away when Touya crouched down gracefully to Tomoyo's level.

"Tomoyo-chan?"

"Hai, Touya-san?"

"Thank you for making that beautiful dress for Sakura. You must have worked very hard to get it ready in time."

"It was the last thing I was ever going to be able to make for her, it was worth every moment," Tomoyo told him, her eyes filling with tears.

"She would have loved it."

"Thank you," Tomoyo gasped, allowing her tears to fall as she hurried back to her mother's side.

Once everyone was gone, Touya moved to the graveside, standing quietly with Yukito at his shoulder and Kero in his pocket. He knew that if he was patient…….the air shimmered in front of him, and three specters appeared, his family once more together on the other side.

"Touya-kun, I am so sorry we've left you with no family," Fujitaka's ghost said.

"I'm happy enough knowing you're all together again now. And it's not as if I'm alone. I have Yue, and Kero and the cards. They'll be with me always," he said.

"You have the cards?" Sakura asked.

"We chose him, Sakura-san. We chose to remain with him so that he would never be alone again, so that we could have a master we knew and trusted once more. We would never have been fortunate enough to come to people such as you again. We would have passed into the Li-clan, and they are not half the mages you and your brother are," Yue said softly from behind Yukito's mask.

"I'm glad, I'm so glad that you'll all be together. I love you all," her ghost said softly.

"I'll miss you, Kaijuu," Touya said.

The three specters began to fade away, their time done, and the three watched, not even blinking, until the final gossamer shimmers faded away.

"Let's go home, koi," Yue said, putting a hand to Touya's shoulder.

"Hai."

xxx

Later that evening, Touya sat on the floor between Yue and Kero, both in their true forms. They pressed against his shoulders as he leafed through photo albums. They all jumped at the sound of a firm knock at the front door.

"Stay here," Touya told them softly. He had no intention of inviting whoever it was into the house.

Opening the front door, he was startled to see the matriarch of the Li-clan, and Sakura's gaki boyfriend standing there.

"Kinomoto-san, our condolences on your loss," the woman said formally.

"Uh, thank you. Why are you here, Li-san? The burial was this morning."

"We've come for the book, the cards," Sayoran said aggressively.

He shrank back under a glacial glare from his mother, who then turned her gaze back to Touya.

"Hiiragizawa-san asked that we come to collect the book, so that we might safeguard it until such time as a new master is chosen. My son meant no disrespect."

"Respectfully, madam, yes he did. Your son and I didn't get along from the moment he first came here, and that is never likely to change. Hiiragizawa should have called you back and told you not to waste the journey. The cards are going nowhere, a new master is already chosen."

"Not if I beat them to gathering the cards. I won't lose this time," Sayoran sneered.

Touya's eyes flared with power as he silently summoned his staff, looking at them coolly.

"You have already lost," he pointed out softly as his Guardians came to his side.

"You? What miniscule amount of magic you had, you gave to Yue. You don't have the power or the skill to master the cards," Sayoran said darkly.

"Obviously you are mistaken," Touya said blandly, shifting his fingers slightly. One of the cards came into his hand, and he held up the new Water card.

The woman looked startled at the sight of the card.

"How many of them have you managed to change?" she asked.

"All of them."

Her eyes widened slightly at that, and then she bowed to him.

"We apologize for our intrusion at this time. We will not disturb you any further."

Sayoran looked like he was about to object, but his mother glared him into silence and startled to hustle him down the path. Touya hesitated, and then sighed. It didn't matter what he felt about the gaki, Sakura had loved him.

"Li-kun, wait a moment."

He turned back, eyeing the older buy suspiciously. He never spoke to him without the familiar insult.

"What?"

"Come inside for a second, please. There are some things Sakura would want me to give you."

"I will wait in the car," his mother said, walking away as he went back to the door.

Touya led him up the stairs to Sakura's room, swallowing hard before slipping inside, feeling the knife in his heart twist at the fresh, sweet scent of her that lingered.

"She….she uh, wrote you a letter, and bought you a gift the day before…….she was going to post it at the weekend, but obviously she never got chance," Touya said, picking them up from her desk.

"Thank you," Li said softly as Touya handed them to him.

They maintained a tense truce until Sayoran was out of the house and joining his mother in the car.

Yue and Kero were back in the living room, waiting for him. Touya went over and slumped down next to his lover.

"I can't stay here. There are too many things, too many places that hurt."

"What do you want to do?" Yue asked.

"Sell up, travel for a while, and then find somewhere to settle that doesn't remind us too much of what we've lost."

"Sounds….nice," the other two agreed.

_**Two years Later**_

Touya and Yuki stood in the quaint street, watching as the sign writer put the finishing touches on the sign over the door, gold lettering on the black background simply spelling **Curiosity**.

"Our own shop, our own place," Touya said with a smile.

"And a totally magical environment," Yukito grinned, looking around the rest of Hogsmead, and up at the imposing edifice of the school of Hogwarts, which sat above the village.

After traveling for two years, Touya and his two Guardians had wanted to settle, but none of them had wanted to return to Japan. They had heard about the magical community in England, and had thought about setting up in Diagon Alley, but Hogsmead had suited them better, and they had taken the shop with the living space above it. Everything was nearly ready now, they would be ready to open up tomorrow, once they had sorted out the last of the stock inside.

Touya was aware of the other residents of little village watching curiously, wondering who the newcomers were, but he didn't care. Turning, he pulled his lover into a tender yet passionate kiss. Yukito melted into the strong body that held him.

"Hmm, maybe we should go inside and make sure Kero and Move have the furniture sorted," Yukito mumbled against Touya's lips, his eyes lightening as he struggled to maintain his human form.

"Good idea," Touya agreed, pulling him inside.

tbc


	2. Chapter 2

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in their carriage on the way from the train to the school, looking out of the window as they skirted the edge of Hogsmead

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in their carriage on the way from the train to the school, looking out of the window as they skirted the edge of Hogsmead.

"Hey, that reminds me, Fred and George told us yesterday that there was a new shop in Hogsmead. George thinks that the two guys who run it might be muggles or squibs. They haven't seen either of them with a wand, anyway and neither has anyone else," Ron said.

"They can't be, there aren't any non magical people in Hogsmead," Harry said.

"What about Filch?" Hermione offered.

"Maybe," Harry conceded.

"Well, we can go and check it out at the weekend, can't we," Hermione shrugged.

They all fell into talking about other things as the coaches rattled up toward the school, looking forward to getting into the village at the weekend and checking out the new shop.

In the last carriage, the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher sat with his wife, his 'assistant', and a small black cat with iridescent wings. They were accompanied by Professor McGonagall. Eriol Hiiragizawa felt a shiver of familiar magic. He wasn't able to keep the shock off his face, and Kaho and McGonagall both asked what was wrong.

"Nothing is wrong, I can sense the cards."

"Cards?" Minerva queried.

"Nothing, it just means that a friend must be around somewhere," Eriol dismissed, planning to go into the village at the first opportunity to check if it really was Touya and his Guardians he was sensing.

xxx

Yukito was alone in the shop, reading a book. They had decided that magical community or not, he and Kero would maintain their less obvious forms. Yukito, with his outgoing nature had made friends with some of the neighboring shop owners, who had warned him that the weekends during term time would mean a lot of kids in Hogsmead, and that they should be very wary of Slytherins.

The bell over the shop door rang, and three students came in, two boys and a girl. The girl had frizzy hair, one of the boys' untidy harsh red hair, and the other messy black hair, which looked like he had stuck his fingers in an electric socket. He found himself wondering a little uncharitably if they hung around together as some kind of bad hair club.

"Hello," the girl said politely.

"Hello is there something I can help you with, or are you just looking?"

"We're just curious really. What do you sell?" the girl asked.

"Magical and non magical nick-knacks. Magical this side of the shop, non magical that side."

"Thank you," she said.

They moved to look around, and Hermione grinned when she found a charmed jewelry box. The card in front of it said it would never open for anyone other than its owner.

"Will this work for a muggle?" she asked.

"For a what?"

"Muggle, non magical person."

"What a horrible term. Yes, the wand is only required to activate the charm, after that, the spell is voice activated."

"Sorry, I meant no offence. Are you non magical then?"

"Not exactly."

"'Mione, stop digging," the dark haired boy advised.

"Yeah, um, anyway. I'll buy this please," she said with a blush, bringing it to the counter.

Yukito wrapped it neatly in brown paper and handed her a small slip of parchment after she had paid.

"This is the spell to activate the box, you will have to wait until the intended recipient is with you, if you are going to be giving it to someone who cannot activate it for them self."

"Thank you," she said, taking her change and the parchment, and then moving to pick up the parcel.

The bell over the door rang again, and Hermione and the others turned automatically, seeing the new defense teacher there.

"Hello Professor Hiiragizawa," she greeted, she turned to get the parcel before she forgot it, and saw that the friendly young man behind the counter had closed down, his amber eyes going cold, hard.

"Eriol-san, what are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you again too, Yukito-san. Surprised to see you here, people were worried when you guys vanished."

"You know each other?" Ron asked dumbly.

"Oh yes, we're old friends. Is Touya-san here too?"

"Of course he is, where else would he be, you didn't answer my question, and is Akizuki here? Because if she comes near Touya, it will be a race to see which of us can de-wing her first,"

"We're all here, I'm teaching up at the school, Kaho is working in the hospital wing, and Akizuki is my assistant. She won't bother Touya-san."

There was a soft clicking sound, and a large lion with white wings and a jeweled headpiece padded in from the back of the shop, a rumbling growl low in its chest at first sight of Eriol.

"Kero-chan, is that really any way to greet an old friend?"

"Me or Touya, if you're still here in one minute, he'll come down himself, and bear in mind, he has in no way forgiven you for Li and his mother descending on him on the day of the funeral."

"Ah, would that be part of the reason for the two year vanishing act? Tomoyo-chan was very upset you know."

"Eriol, you're pushing your luck," Kero warned.

"Very well, but I would like to speak to him, if possible, please."

"Maybe, no promises."

Eriol left, and the three students tried to look like they hadn't been watching the whole thing in fascination.

"Why don't you like him, he seems very nice up at the school," Ron said with his normal lack of tact.

"He's deceptive," Yukito snarled.

A tall man came in from the back, sharp dark blue eyes sweeping over the shop as he entered; he was stunning, Hermione found herself struck speechless. Dark hair hung halfway down his back, caught at the nape of his neck by a leather thong, he wore black robes, which complemented his flawless caramel toned skin, and the only colored thing was the gold on the oddly shaped pendant that hung on a leather thong around his neck.

Hermione heard Harry swallow hard behind her, she knew he was attracted to guys that was fairly obvious by who his current crush was, and this guy would make the straightest man on the planet re-think his orientation.

"You heard?" the smaller man behind the counter asked as the dark man came up behind him, leaning into the solid body.

"Yes, he can wait, if he really wants to talk to me, it will be on my terms, not his."

He noticed the three young people, and looked at them curiously.

"Customers, from the school. The young lady has just bought the charmed box."

Touya nodded silently, his hand going to the top of Kero's head as the winged lion leaned into him.

"Sorry you had to witness that, I hope it hasn't put you off recommending us to your friends," Touya said quietly.

"No, of course not," Hermione said.

The three left the shop, and saw Professor Hiiragizawa standing talking angrily to his assistant, who seemed to be intent on heading into the shop they had just left. He had a firm grip on her arm, and was pulling her back in the direction of the school.

"I wonder what he meant by de-winging her," Harry mused as he watched her lose the battle and get pulled along the path.

"I don't know, I don't want to know, it's none of our business," Hermione said firmly, leading the way toward the WWW joke shop.

"Come on Ron, I thought you wanted to check out the twins new lines," Harry said, quickly following Hermione.

xxx

Kaho looked up from her book as Eriol thrust Akizuki into their quarters in front of him, closing the door firmly.

"It was them, then?" she asked.

"Yes, it's them. Yukito and Cerberus warned me off before I saw Touya-san though," he sighed.

"Yukito? I would have thought that in a place like this, he would feel more secure about using his true form," she mused.

"I don't know, maybe he still feels more comfortable as Yukito unless he's in battle."

"I still say you should have let me go in there," Akizuki sulked.

"Nakuru-chan, Yukito said that if you went near them, he and Touya would de-wing you, and I don't imagine they were joking."

She huffed and flounced off to her own room, Spinner rolled his eyes and followed her, in part to see if he could brighten her mood, but mainly to make sure she didn't do something stupid like fly out of the window and go looking for trouble. He didn't think they were joking about ripping her wings off either.

"Would you like me to try, Eriol koi?"

"You really think he'll receive you any better Kaho?"

"He might, he was almost civil the last time I saw him before Sakura-chan's death. And I didn't call the Li-clan in on him," she pointed out.

"It's worth a try. I really do need to talk to him. Maybe you should allow him to calm today, and go and see them tomorrow."

"Will their shop be open on a Sunday?"

"I would have thought so, shorter hours maybe, but they should be open. I think they live above the shop anyway, so if they're closed, you could try their private quarters."

xxx

Touya was minding the shop the next day, Yukito having opted to enjoy a lie in, and then start cooking Sunday lunch, a meal they had encountered while traveling that they had all enjoyed, generally consisting of roasted meat, roasted potatoes, and various types of vegetables to taste. It wasn't something they would consider having every week, but this was their first weekend in their new place, so it merited something special.

Touya looked up as the bell over the door rang, and frowned deeply at the red headed woman stepping into the shop.

"Hello, Touya-san," she said softly.

"Mizuki-san, or is it Hiiragizawa-san now? If you're here to ask me to talk to him, just turn around and take yourself back out of this shop now."

"Why are you so angry at him, Touya-san?" she asked, brushing aside the question of her surname as if she hadn't heard it.

"It could be something to do with him calling the gaki and his mother to take the book on the day my little sister and my father were buried, and just possibly it could be something to do with the fact that he turned up ready to wipe my memories. What was the plan, hmmm? Wipe away the memories of Yue, and Yukito because they were supposed to have been dragged back into the book as far as he was concerned?"

"How did you know?" she asked resignedly.

"Yue and Kero recognized the aura of the spell he was carrying, they told me."

"He didn't want to do it, Touya, it was just going to be a last resort, if you weren't coping with the loss of Sakura, and your father, AND your lover, all at the same time. He just intended to spare you pain if he had to."

"And never mind that I would probably never have trusted another living soul as long as I lived, because I didn't you know, after what you did to me, up until the day I met Yukito, I trusted NO ONE, not even my father."

"I know, and that's why it was an absolute last resort, because he knew it too. He was pleased, Touya, he was so pleased that you were the new card master, that you had made it unnecessary."

"And yet, he allowed them to come, on one of the worst days of my life, and try to take the book from me."

"He regrets that he was too late to stop them, Touya-san."

"Why does he want to talk to me anyway? Because if it's just to make sure I'm looking after the cards, and the Guardians, that's none of his business anymore."

"I'm not sure. Please Touya-kun, talk to him, he was worried when you dropped out of sight right after the funeral, everyone was."

She noted that Touya scowled at the switch into familiarity on his name and decided to stick to formality for now.

"Please, Touya-san," she repeated.

"I'll think about it. I'll contact him if I want to talk to him."

"I'll tell him, thank you Touya-san."

Kaho left and Touya slumped back onto the high stool behind the counter with a sigh. Kero fluttered in, perching on the counter.

"You all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, fine. Yuki throw you out of the kitchen?"

"Worse, Yue did. I still don't understand how he can be fully merged, but still have two distinct personalities depending on the face he's wearing," Kero huffed.

"Because that's how he's comfortable, Kero. Yukito is better suited to cheer, and Yue better suited to seriousness. As long as he's happy Kero, does it matter?"

"It does when my little brother throws me out of the kitchen at bow point."

Touya laughed, the dark mood Kaho had brought on breaking, and the two Guardians relaxed.

"You're going to stay down here until I lock up then?" he asked.

"Yes."

Yue leaned back against the counter in the kitchen, easing back the telepathic connection to Kero slightly now that he knew the anger was faded. He felt more than a little angry himself, how dare Hiiragizawa disrupt their peace again. Shaking it off, he switched back into Yukito, cooking in his true form was a nightmare.

xxx

Dinner in the Great Hall was a noisy affair, all of the students in the school crammed into one place at the same time. Eriol leaned back in his chair when he finished his dinner, looking over at Kaho, who sat at the far end of the table with Madam Pomfrey. He smiled at her, thinking how lucky he was to have her, and seeing him, she smiled back.

There was a ripple of sound in the hall, and all the students fell silent. Surprised, Eriol turned forward again, wondering what could have silenced so many people at once, and saw Yue sweep into the room, wearing his bow and quiver.

In his peripheral vision, he could see the staff reaching for their wands at the sight of the intimidating figure; he was going to have to do something before this got unpleasant. He was about to stand when there was a rustle from the center of the table, and Dumbledore stood up.

"Yue-san, it has been a very long time. I never expected to see you in these halls again, I thought your master had passed away," Dumbledore said.

Eriol wracked his brains, searching out Clow's memories, and a faint recollection came to him, sending Yue several times to deliver messages to the school for him. Dumbledore must have only been a young man then, he was surprised the man remembered Yue.

"Clow passed, but we remain. We have a new master now, Dumbledore-sama," Yue said, bowing his head respectfully.

"So, what can we do for you, or your master?" Dumbledore asked.

"The card master gave me a message for Hiiragizawa Eriol," Yue said, pointedly leaving off any honorific as he turned his attention to Eriol.

"The card master agrees to your request to speak with him. As neutral ground, he suggests the midpoint between the school and the village, midnight, tonight."

"Thank you, Yue-san, and please, thank Kinomoto-san for agreeing to speak with me," Eriol said.

"Don't bring Ruby, if you're truly coming to talk not fight. Spinniel however is welcome; Cerberus is looking forward to seeing him again."

"Understood."

Yue nodded briefly to Eriol, bowed formally to Dumbledore and swept out as silently as he had entered.

Noise levels in the room rose again as people in the hall started to speculate on their unusual visitor, and a lot of people were staring at the DADA teacher, as he had been the recipient of the message.

"You know his master, Hiiragizawa-san?" Dumbledore asked.

"Oh yes, but I knew his sister better, she was the mistress before him. He took over the mastery of the cards when she was killed in an accident."

"So he is not as strong?"

"Albus, he's stronger. Far stronger than her, than me, than YOU, he's more powerful than Clow Reed."

"Then why wasn't he the master from the start?"

"Because he loved his little sister Albus, and she was the one who had been chosen since before Clow's death. He wouldn't take that from her."

"He sounds fascinating," Dumbledore mused.

"Why don't you come with me? If I'm banned from bringing Ruby, then I should even up the numbers somehow."

"Don't you think he would mind?"

"I seriously doubt he could dislike me more than he already does, Albus."

"Then I will accompany you, thank you."

xxx

Midnight was cold and clear, the full moon looking down serenely as Albus and Eriol headed to the meeting point Touya had given. Touya was there already, sitting astride a bench so that he was facing Yue, who also straddled the bench. Cerberus was lying on the ground, his head on his paws, idly watching the two men approaching.

"No Spinniel?" he rumbled in disappointment.

"He's coming Cerberus-chan, he's just making sure Ruby didn't follow us," Eriol assured him.

Touya and Yue rose smoothly from the bench as Eriol spoke, turning to face the two men. Touya raised a questioning eyebrow in Dumbledore's direction, and Eriol shifted uncomfortably.

"This is Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts; he wanted to meet you, Kinomoto-san."

Spinniel chose that moment to drop out of the sky, pouncing on Cerberus, who instantly rolled and flipped him off. The two banished their wings, and Spinniel paused just long enough to look back over one muscular black shoulder at Eriol.

"She's not following, Kaho-san has her distracted," he said shortly, before he and Kero rolled off into the undergrowth in a mock battle for dominance.

"Should someone stop them?" Albus asked, wincing a little and the hisses and growls.

"Why? They're only playing. What did you want Eriol?" Touya demanded coolly.

"The magical community is at war, Kinomoto-san. It began here, with one evil creature and his followers, but it is spreading, and soon it will engulf magical communities all over the world. We need your help stop it," Eriol told the younger sorcerer.

tbc


	3. Chapter 3

"Excuse me

"Excuse me? You want me to help you fight a war?"

"Kinomoto-san, we need you," Eriol said.

"What makes you think I'm interested in helping Eriol?"

"Because the monster is trying to kill a child, because the boy is prophesied to be the only one who can stop him. We need all the help we can get, to stop him getting to Harry before he's ready," Albus said.

Touya frowned slightly in thought, before his eyes snapped back to Eriol.

"The boy who was in the shop, the day you came in? Very messy dark hair, green eyes, glasses and a scar on his forehead?"

"Yes, how did you know?" Eriol asked.

"There was something very dark, leeching on his aura. I thought he was just in a bad mood, but he wasn't. No promises on helping with the fight, Hiiragizawa, but bring me the boy."

"What?" Albus demanded.

"The leech on his aura must be removed. Depending on the strength of the hold it has, it can feed everything the boy knows, everything he is told, to the other end of the connection in dreams. It will prevent any attempt to hide from it, all you can do is destroy it, destroy the link. Bring me the boy."

"Why do we have to bring him to you, why can't we destroy it ourselves?" Albus asked.

"Can you see his aura?" Touya growled.

"No."

"Then how do you think you can fix it? Bring him to me, first thing in the morning, dawn preferably. Tell him nothing."

"It will be hard to get him away from his friends, especially if we don't tell him what's going on."

"Then bring them, as long as they stay out of my way, I don't care who watches. Yue also told me there is a dark shackle on one of your staff, bring him too. He will have to be unconscious though, I think."

"Severus? He can't be freed yet, he is our spy in the enemy camp, and we need him."

"He must be freed now, if he is not, he will more than likely be murdered in a fit of rage when the creature on the other end of the leech realizes it has lost its grip. Bring them to me," Touya ordered impatiently, turning his back on them.

"Kero, you can play with Spinner another time, we have to go now. There are preparations to make."

Kero untangled himself from Spinniel and rejoined his brother and their master. The three walked away without sparing another glance for the men Touya had been talking to.

"Well, that was unexpected," Dumbledore murmured.

"Is he going to help?" Spinniel asked as he came back to Eriol's side.

"Not in the way I had hoped, but he's going to help none the less," Eriol said, absently smoothing out some of the snarls that Kero had left in Spinners fur.

"You trust him?" Albus asked uncertainly.

"Absolutely, Kinomoto-san has a naturally protective personality; he will never willingly allow harm to come to another if he can prevent it."

"Very well, I shall trust your instincts then. Perhaps we should get back to the castle; I for one could use a little sleep before we take Harry and Severus down to the village."

"Yes," Eriol agreed.

xxx

Kaho was in bed, but still awake when Eriol came back to their rooms.

"How did it go? Did you get what you wanted?" she asked.

"Not exactly, but he is going to break the connections that Voldemort has to Harry and Severus. That will be of enormous help, even if he won't join the fight," Eriol sighed, preparing for bed.

"He's changed, hasn't he?" she asked.

"Not really, he's grown up, but he's still the same protective person he always was. He is starting to look startlingly like Clow Reed though."

"I know, do you think it's deliberate?"

"No, he always did look more like Clow than either his father or I did. It was part of what made Yue so resistant to him at the start. It's the hair that makes it so striking, I never imagined him with long hair," Eriol grinned, sliding into bed beside her and using his wand to extinguish the candles.

Akizuki bounced in then, relighting the candles.

"Can I go and see Touya-kun tomorrow? Please, I want to go and see him, I've been good so far," she begged.

"No, Nakuru, there is something Touya is doing for Albus and I tomorrow that is very important, and I don't want you annoying him and making him change his mind," he said firmly.

"Why won't you let me play with him anymore?" she whined.

"Because you were only supposed to play that game to distract him from what I was doing to help Sakura-chan change the cards. He could destroy you without breaking a sweat, and there is nothing I could do to stop him. Leave him and Yue-san alone."

"But I'm BORED, Eriol-san," she moaned.

"Tough. If you keep on pushing, I'll send you back to the mansion alone. Is that clear?"

"Yes," she pouted and stomped out.

"Sometimes, I wish I had made Ruby and Nakuru a little less….independent," he sighed, extinguishing the candles again.

xxx

Ron woke up, hearing someone walking quietly across the dorm, and peeped around the curtains on his bed. He was surprised to see Dumbledore and Hiiragizawa creeping toward Harry's bed, their wands out.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Hush, Mr. Weasley. We do not need the entire house awakened. We have a way to help Harry, but we must go now, quietly," Dumbledore hissed in annoyance.

"What? What are you going to do to him?"

"Be silent. You and Miss. Granger may come and watch if you wish, but you must be silent."

"It's not as if I can wake Hermione up, is it? I can't get to her room."

"I believe her cat was lying before the fire downstairs, I'm sure he will wake her, if you ask him," Eriol said soothingly.

As Dumbledore and Eriol woke Harry up, Ron quickly dressed, and darted downstairs to try to get Crookshanks to go after Hermione. It wasn't the ridiculous suggestion that most people would think, that cat was freakily smart.

By the time Harry, Ron and a (quietly) protesting Hermione reached the entrance hall, Kaho, Ruby and Spinniel were there, an unconscious Severus floating peacefully in front of them, cradled by Ruby's magic.

"Ruby, you can't come, you know that," Eriol chided.

"I have to, Eriol-san. If he's really going to fight so much dark magic, he'll run the risk of bringing Voldemort down on him, the power he'll be putting out will be like a beacon. The more battle capable people there, the safer it will be. Besides which, with four of us there, we can use the shield card to damp the power down, without any of us putting out enough energy to show up clearly," she said reasonably.

He knew she was right, and she wasn't often reasonable either. He had been a little worried himself about Touya drawing Voldemort's attention while freeing the two.

"Very well, but Ruby….."

"I know how important this is, Eriol-san. I promise that I won't do anything to annoy Touya-san."

He nodded, somewhat reluctantly, and the group headed out of the school. Albus was carrying a portkey, and as soon as they were outside, everyone touched it, Ruby making sure that the unconscious potions professor was in contact with it too.

The familiar gut wrenching lurch, and they were all deposited in the silent Hogsmead street in the pale light of the dawn, right outside the shop doorway.

"Why on Earth are we here?" Hermione asked as Eriol led the way up to the doorway of the shop, knocking lightly.

It was Yukito who opened the door, wearing a pair of jeans and a dark t-shirt, all smudged in dust, or chalk, Hermione realized, he was covered in chalk.

"Eriol, what is SHE doing here?" Yukito growled, looking at Ruby.

"Tsukishiro-san, please forgive my actions, the last time we met. I exceeded my orders to distract Kinomoto-san from paying attention to what Eriol was doing. I am merely here to help prevent the Card Master from attracting unwanted attention while he is working," Ruby said formally, bowing her head to Yukito.

"Thank you, Ruby Moon. Your help will be welcomed. Please come in, he's almost ready," Yukito said, stepping back to allow the group in.

"Eriol-san, Dumbledore-sama, if you, Ruby Moon and Spinniel Sun would take Mr. Potter and Mr. Snape through to the back, mind the steps. The rest of you can watch, from up here, but do NOT attempt to interfere," Yukito warned, moving the curtain aside and hooking it out of the way.

As they took them down, it became clear to Hermione and Ron how the young man could be covered in chalk. The room behind the shop had been cleared, if it had ever had anything in it at all, and the walls were marked in chalked Japanese or Chinese characters, grouped seemingly randomly. Eriol smiled in relief, realizing that Touya had thought about his power showing up too. The seemingly random markings were dampening spells. The four guardians would shield Touya, and the markings on the wall would catch any bleed through, plus hide the guardians.

The floor hadn't escaped the chalk either; there was a large circle, the four compass points marked on it. Inside that, there was chalked another circle, and between them, the characters for all of the cards but shield were chalked in, spaced evenly around the circle, and inside it, in the cleared space was drawn a pentagram, much to Eriol's surprise, and in the very center, in the pentagon left at the center of the pentagram, Touya's power circle was drawn with exacting detail in the small space.

There were footsteps descending the stairs from above then, preceded by the clicking of claws on the wood. As Touya followed Cerberus down the stairs, Yukito moved to the bottom of them, switching forms so that Yue fell in beside his fellow guardian in front of their master.

"Place the two to be freed in the center of the circle," Touya said distantly, his mind already racing ahead on the spell.

Yue took his robes from him, folding them neatly on the stairs, leaving Touya wearing plain black trousers, and a plain black silk shirt, his key hanging around his neck, and his long hair pulled into a tight braid, out of the way.

Eriol gently pushed Harry toward the circle; guiding him inside, making sure he didn't disturb the chalk marks.

"What? But…." Harry tried to protest, but Eriol hushed him.

"It will be all right Harry, I promise."

Harry stood where Eriol placed him, looking nervous and unsure. When he was in place, Ruby floated Severus in, letting him settle gently to the floor.

Touya looked at Ruby for a moment, and then inclined his head in her direction, then again to Spinniel.

"Ruby Moon, Spinniel Sun, thank you for your willingness to assist in this," he said gravely.

"It is an honor, Card Master," they said in unison.

Touya stepped inside the circle, and took the cards from their pouch, holding them on his flat palm.

"Cards, to your marks," he said softly.

The cards scattered around the circle, settling over their names, facing outwards. Shield floated over to Yue, settling in his hand to wait to be activated.

"Guardians of East and West, I bid you take your position."

Ruby and Spinner moved, Ruby taking west and Spinner taking east.

"Guardians of North and South, I bid you take your position."

Yue moved to North, directly behind Touya, one hand briefly clasping his shoulder as Kero moved to the South spot in front of Touya.

"Shield, bow to the will of your ruling card," Touya said.

"Shield, release, draw strength from the two guardians of the sun, and the two guardians of the moon, to hide the power of our master," Yue said.

The shield card opened out along the outer circle, leaving the cards glowing faintly inside. The four guardians bowed their heads at the tug of the power drain from the shield.

The people standing tensely outside the circle couldn't hear what was going on inside, but they could see Touya gently persuading Harry to lie down across the circle from Severus. Once Harry was lying down, Touya paced the outer edge of the circle, dropping a powder along the inner chalk circle, making it start to glow with a pale white light. The cards glowed brighter, standing straighter in their spots. Once that was done, Touya knelt and pulled back the potions master's sleeve, baring the dark mark branded on his arm. He said something to Harry, who paled, looking terrified, but he nodded tentatively.

"What's he saying? Harry looks petrified," Hermione said, going to move forward.

"Stay up there, he's just warning Harry that this will hurt. It may seem harsh to you, Miss. Granger, but it won't hurt him as much as leaving that link to Voldemort intact."

Touya stood dead center in the circle, on the chalked in version of his power circle. Raising his hands over the two figures on the floor, Touya closed his eyes and started to chant.

Harry, lying on the floor felt his scar starting to burn, like it always did when he woke up from one of his nightmares of Voldemort. Obeying what he had been told, he resisted the urge to press his hands over the scar, keeping them on the floor, his hands curling into fists. Looking over out of the corner of his eye, he could just see Snape's arm, the dark mark vivid against the pale skin. He forgot his discomfort instantly when he saw the mark on the professor's arm starting to glow, getting brighter as the pace of the chanting picked up.

Looking up at the tall man standing over them, he could see sweat standing out on his brow, his muscles trembling as the mark glowed brighter and the burning of his scar intensified.

Outside the shield, the observers saw the glowing mark, and the lightening scar reach and almost painful intensity, and seem to lift away from the skin, darkening as they moved higher, away from the two on the floor. When they reached a height level with Touya's hands, they were inky black, all light seeming to fall into them now as with a quick gesture of his hands, Touya smashed the floating black lightening bolt and the floating dark mark together.

Eriol could almost see the two struggling to separate themselves, when Touya summoned his staff, his real power circle now lighting bright and clear under him, held in the confines of the shield the guardians maintained.

Touya brought his staff down on the twisting darkness, switching to English now.

"Darkness torn from your master's control, you will confine yourself now to MY will. I bind you and seal you, Spy card. Assume your power confined."

Light began to swirl around the darkness, pummeling it, shaping it, and a moment later, a new card floated tamely into Touya's waiting hand. As if a string had been cut, the tension in Touya's body snapped and he started to fall. Only by planting his staff on the floor and leaning his weight into it, did he manage to end the fall on his knees.

Blinking hard as his vision blurred and doubled, Touya knew he had to get the inner circle down before the others could drop the shield, but his head felt like it was stuffed with wool.

"Erase card, break the central circle and erase the inner circle," he said, his words slurred. He knew the card had understood him when it broke ranks, moving forward and starting to wipe out the chalk marks.

Yue had to force himself to wait, to continue to hold the shield, as he saw Touya finally slump the rest of the way to the floor, unconscious, as Erase broke the containment inside the shield. As soon as the inner circle was gone, the cards divided into their two houses, under himself and Kero, leaving him free to finally say the words.

"Shield card, return to your power confined."

Shield returned to the card form, sliding into Yue's half of the deck, and then the two halves combined, returning to the hidden pocket in their master's clothes.

Yue hurried forward, easing Touya over into his arms as everyone descended on the circle. Yue shut them out, only one thing mattered to Kero and himself.

"Touya, koi?" he whispered, his fingers nervously loosing the braid, before running through the black silk of his love's hair.

"Please, answer me koi, please," he whispered, tears starting to gather as he held the too still body close to him, he couldn't feel his master's energy.

Eriol knelt across from him, one hand going to Touya's throat, resting there for a long minute before shifting it down to rest on Touya's chest as his other hand came up to rest on his forehead.

"Yue-san, look at me Yue-san," he said softly.

The silver haired angel didn't seem to hear him, to even know he was there.

Ruby shook her head and came to kneel at Yue's side, one slender arm going around the tense shoulders as she leaned close to his ear and said loudly.

"He's alive, baka."

Yue looked at her, startled, and then turned his amethyst eyes to Eriol, who nodded.

"He's exhausted, and he's drained himself, and he'll probably be unconscious for a good few days, but he IS alive," Eriol said, gently sliding the key once more around Touya's neck and handing the new card to Yue, to put into the deck.

Albus looked at the three unconscious figures on the floor, seeing the pale, unmarked skin of Severus's arm, and the unmarked skin of Harry's forehead, and felt his knees weaken. He had had no idea that such a thing was possible, to completely remove the dark mark, or the scar that had rejected all attempts at healing, he was in awe.

"I…I think perhaps the three of them would be best off in the hospital wing up at the school, until they recover," he said, his voice dry and shaking.

"Yue?" Eriol asked. He wouldn't try to take Touya without his lovers' permission.

"Yes," Yue said his voice dazed.

"Come on, let's get the three of them outside, we can get locked up and move them to the school."

tbc


	4. Chapter 4

Madame Pomfrey was startled when they turned up with the three unconscious forms

Madame Pomfrey was startled when they turned up with the three unconscious forms.

"Good heavens, Severus, Harry, what on Earth happened? And who is this young man?"

"Kinomoto-san is suffering from exhaustion and severe magical drain. Severus and Harry are both probably just in shock," Kaho said.

"What happened to them though?" Pomfrey asked.

"Look at Harry's head, Severus's arm," Dumbledore said softly.

"Oh, Merlin. How?" she asked, seeing the untainted skin.

"He did it," Albus said, looking at the pale form of Touya, cradled in Yue's arms.

"Right, well, lets get the three of them to bed," she said, shaken.

Yue laid Touya down gently where Pomfrey directed, his long, pale fingers stroking through the dark hair again. He glared her and Kaho off when they came to undress him, removing the cards from Touya's pocket, he waved his hand and Touya was naked. Pomfrey handed him a set of pajamas, and Yue redressed him in them, and then retook his form as Yukito, sliding the deck into his own pocket until Touya was awake to look after them again, before switching back to Yue again, thereby making the cards unreachable until he chose to switch bodies again, or Touya woke up, whichever came first.

Eriol came over, looking down at the pale young man in the bed.

"He did an amazing thing today," he said.

"Yes, he did. You're still going to try to involve him in that war though, aren't you? Even after what he did today, you're not going to let him be."

"No, I promise you, I'm not going to push him. I won't even ask him again. If he wants to get involved, that's entirely up to him, if he doesn't, that's up to him too."

"Thank you," he said, watching suspiciously as madam Pomfrey came back again, brandishing her wand.

"What are you planning on doing with that?" he demanded, his amethyst eyes hardening.

"Just examining him, it won't hurt him. Really, I would have thought that him being such a powerful wizard, you would be familiar with basic medical spells."

"Ah, Poppy, you're rather laboring under a misapprehension. Kinomoto-san is not a wizard, per-se, he is a Sorcerer, although, what we saw today was an interesting hybridization. I gather you didn't just spend your time traveling Yue-san?"

"No, To-ya learned some stuff too, he figured out more ways to mix eastern and western magic, beyond what Clow imagined."

"Will this hurt him?" Poppy asked, somewhat impatiently, holding up her wand.

"No, but you may not get an entirely accurate reading either, his magic differs from yours. Yue-san, Cerberus-san, with your permission?"

"We'll be watching," Kero rumbled, not trusting Eriol.

"Of course."

Eriol summoned his own staff, running it over Touya from head to foot.

"My initial assessment is confirmed, he's exhausted and drained. He'll be awake in a day or two. What about Severus and Harry, Poppy?"

"They're fine, they're both on the verge of waking up now," she said, busting off again. They would probably both need a spot of pepper upper potion when they woke up.

Once they were sure everyone was settled and examined, Hermione and Ron drifted over from where they had waited by the door. They approached Yue first.

"Is he going to be all right?" she asked.

"He will be thank you."

"What he did, breaking Harry's link to Voldemort that was an amazing thing. It will make a lot of difference to Harry. We appreciate that."

Yue nodded, offering them a faint smile, but he quickly turned his attention back to Touya, leaning down to kiss his forehead. That left Ron and Hermione free to go over to where Dumbledore was standing, between the beds where Harry and Snape lay.

"Sir, people are going to wonder about Harry's scar vanishing, what is he supposed to say?" she asked.

"He can say he finally found a spell to remove it, or he found a way to cover it up, it's really up to him. I believe our new friends would appreciate it though, if their involvement got no mention," he said.

"We'll make sure he knows that. Is Professor Snape going to be ok?"

"I think he is going to be better than he has been in quite some time, Miss. Granger," Albus said with a smile.

"You lot, run along to breakfast, let my patients rest in peace," Pomfrey said, coming back with the potion she had gone for, chasing them out of the room.

"I'm not leaving him," Yue said firmly.

"Nor me," Kero growled, taking station at the foot of the bed.

Eriol paused in the doorway, watching.

"Nothing is going to hurt him here, for Merlin's sake. He doesn't need protection."

"We're his guardians, when he is not in a position to defend himself, it is our place to do so," Kero rumbled, pointedly lying down and dropping his head onto his paws.

"Don't you two want breakfast? You both need to recharge too you know," Eriol said, drifting back.

"We're not leaving him unattended," Yue snapped.

"Fine, then how about you come to breakfast, and you can bring a tray back for Kero when you've eaten."

Yue met Kero's eyes for a moment, and then nodded slowly, just this once, he would have to eat in this form, he wasn't changing back to Yukito again.

"Very well."

xxx

Harry woke slowly, almost reluctantly, expecting his head to hurt after the way it had felt when he passed out. When he found he could open his eyes, and there was no pain at all, he brought his hands up to his forehead, stunned to feel the skin smooth, like the scar had never existed.

"You too, Mr. Potter?" the voice of the potions master came from his left, and he looked over sharply, seeing the man sitting up in the next bed, staring at the pale, unblemished skin of his forearm, where the dark mark had branded him for so long.

"Yeah, feels weird, doesn't it?"

"Especially since I have no idea what happened, how it happened," Snape said dryly.

"What is the last thing you remember?" Harry asked curiously.

"Someone knocking on the door to my rooms, going to open it, then nothing, nothing at all until now. You?"

Harry frowned, realizing that the memory seemed to be out of reach, he knew that he should know what had happened, but he just, didn't.

"I kind of remember Dumbledore getting me out of bed, and it wasn't even really light yet. After that it's kind of, not there. I get a vague impression of my head hurting, a lot, and a really bright light, but that's about it."

"Hmm, if Dumbledore was involved, we have no chance of him telling us what went on until he's good and ready," Snape sneered.

Poppy Pomfrey bustled over, her wand at the ready, frowning at them.

"Hush up you two, people are sleeping over there," she ordered, scanning first Snape, then Harry with her wand.

"Good, you're both perfectly healthy. Drink this, and then you can go to your own rooms for the day. No lessons today, either of you, Severus, your classes are covered, Mr. Potter, I'm sure there is nothing you can't catch up with tomorrow," she said bossily, pouring both of them a dose of pepper upper potion.

Harry looked at Snape in alarm, his first lesson after lunch was supposed to be double potions. Surprisingly, Snape waved a hand at him.

"Forget it, I don't care who's running today's lessons, I want to see all potions made myself. All of today's lessons will be repeated in the next class anyway," he said, drinking down his potion with a grimace. Just because he made them, didn't mean he liked drinking them.

Harry drank his own potion down in silence, stunned by the change in Snape's attitude. He was still kind of grouchy, but it seemed that whatever had taken the dark mark away, had taken the truly nasty edge with it. Harry found the crush that had plagued him all year last year stirring up to new levels, and got up to dress, to hide his blushing, as if Severus Snape would want anything to do with Harry Potter.

Looking over to the other side of the room, where Poppy had said that other people were sleeping, Snape saw her vanish into the curtained off area, and curiously followed her, wondering which denizen of the school he was going to be spared of in potions for a few days. Slipping around the curtain, he was stunned to see the angelic messenger from the other night, seated at the side of the bed where a handsome man lay, holding his hand. The silvered head was lying on the man's chest, and the angel seemed fast asleep.

Poppy looked up from where she was doing a very basic, hands on check of the young man's pulse and breathing, and saw him there.

"You shouldn't be in here Severus. Go to your rooms and rest, if you've taken your potion," she whispered.

"Who are they?" he hissed.

Their voices woke Cerberus, who opened his eyes with a huge yawn and wriggled out from under the bed, where he'd been sleeping out of the way. He yawned again, allowing Snape to see lots of shiny, sharp teeth

"Please, Severus, just go now. You'll find out who they are when the young man wakes," Poppy said, waving him back toward the curtains.

Snape left reluctantly, and finding Harry was leaving too, they left the room together.

"Well, Professor Snape, I'll um see you in potions tomorrow," Harry said, darting away in the direction of the tower before he had a chance to reply.

Snape was sure he could see the boy blushing again, one would almost think…..no, what a ridiculous notion, as if, as the students would say.

xxx

Touya groaned, raising one hand to his aching head as he tried to persuade his eyes to open. He felt himself being lifted, so that his back was supported against someone's chest, and a familiar much loved voice, soft and close to his ear.

"Drink this koi, it might taste vile, but it will help," Yue said, bringing a glass to his lover's lips, tilting it gently.

Touya swallowed, almost choking on the first taste of the revolting liquid, but Yue persisted, making him drink it all. Touya felt like fire were rushing through his veins, and he coughed once, his eyes flashing open.

"What the hell was that?" he wheezed.

"Pepper upper potion. How are you feeling now, young man?" Poppy asked, handing him a glass of water.

Touya drank it gratefully, washing the taste out of his mouth, then settled back against Yue, who brought his wings around to partially enclose him.

"I feel a little wiped out, tired. What happened?"

"You collapsed after completing the spell; you barely managed to get the inner circles down. You've been unconscious for around 60 hours, its Friday evening now," Yue said from behind him, his voice trembling slightly.

"I will never leave you that way, koi," Touya swore, twisting his head to meet the amethyst eyes.

"I know," Yue said, leaning down to kiss him gently.

Madame Pomfrey cleared her throat to get their attention, and she was blushing faintly when they looked back at her.

"Professor Hiiragizawa is coming up to check you over now, and then if he says you're well enough, you can get up," she said.

"There's no need for Hiiragizawa to check me over, I'm fine now."

"Given you've been unconscious for two days, I would prefer someone else be the judge of that young man," she said firmly.

He rolled his eyes, but settled more comfortably against Yue to wait for Hiiragizawa to show up.

When Eriol showed up five minutes later, he summoned his staff, smiling at them.

"You caused quite a stir in the death eaters, from what we've managed to gather," he said to Touya.

"What do you mean?" Touya asked, eying him narrowly.

"Severus overheard some of the Slytherin students talking; it seems their fathers came from seeing Voldemort yesterday suffering from the effects of several very unpleasant curses. One boy mentioned that his aunt had not come back at all yet. It seems their master was somewhat enraged by losing the link he had to 'the boy who lived'. I don't know if he's even realized he's lost Severus yet," Eriol said, using his staff to check Touya out.

"There's no saying it won't make him more dangerous, all breaking the link achieves for your side is that he can no longer draw information from the boy's mind,"

"But that will mean we can step up his training, without fear of Voldemort finding out what we're doing."

"Assuming he gives you time to train him. He may decide to launch an all out offensive now that he has lost his advantage."

"He isn't that smart, Touya-san. He's too busy right now torturing his followers to even think about launching an attack, and if he persists, when he does decide to attack, his men won't be in any condition to fight."

Eriol finished his scan and shrank his staff down again.

"You're good to get up, but I would recommend that you avoid using your magic for another couple of days, let it finish replenishing."

"Good," Touya said, throwing back the covers.

Yue pulled Touya's clothes out of the cabinet beside the bed, and then closed the screens around the area to give him the privacy to dress without Eriol and Poppy watching. Then he changed into Yukito to retrieve the cards for him.

"Thanks for looking after them, koi," Touya said, kissing him softly.

"They're not exactly a problem to look after," Yukito smiled.

"Yes, speaking of problems to look after, where is Kero?"

"He and Spinniel went to get something to eat, I went at lunch time. We were unwilling to leave you alone."

Touya smiled as his lover brushed his hair out, pulling it into the leather band at the back of his neck, then helped him pull his robes on, he ensured his key wasn't snagged on anything, and once he was sure he was set, he pulled the screens aside.

Kero bounded in then, stopping in front of Touya.

"I thought I felt the cards return to your possession," he rumbled, nuzzling Touya's neck when the man crouched down to rub him hard between the shoulders.

"Yes, thank you for watching over me with your brother."

"Will you come and have something to eat, Touya-san?" Eriol asked, gesturing toward the door.

"I don't think so, we need to get back and sort out the shop. I don't think leaving those markings visible would be too wise," Touya said.

"As you wish, but Dumbledore did want to thank you himself, for what you did for Harry and Severus."

"Not tonight, Eriol, perhaps next week, when I am more myself again."

"Very well, Touya-san, I'll let Albus know. I'll just walk you to the doors, the corridors and stairways in this school are insane," Eriol conceded.

As he led them down the main staircase, Touya stepped over the trick step without needing to be warned, and frowned at the sight of a tall man with very pale blond hair, and a superior expression, waiting in the center of the entrance hall. His gaze flicked over them as they reached the floor, but he dismissed them as beneath his notice, shifting his cane from his right hand to his left as Draco and Severus came up from the dungeons.

"Severus, my friend, I was most disappointed not to see you the other evening, and the owl I sent you didn't seem to be able to deliver it's letter. Will you accompany me to dinner at the three broomsticks, so that we may catch up on what we've missed?"

Snape hesitated, they had no idea if Voldemort had realized yet that he was no longer wearing the dark mark, and this could be an opportunity to gather a little information on what was going on with Voldemort. He almost jumped out of his skin as Hiiragizawa and a tall stranger ghosted up behind him, one on either side.

"Do not do it, Severus Snape, they are aware. He feels he will gain favor and a reprieve from the punishment all his comrades are suffering, if he delivers you to his master," the stranger said softly, close to his ear. Snape looked at the man to see midnight blue eyes regarding the two Malfoy's as dismissively as the Malfoy's usually regarded the people around them. Looking closer, he realized it was the man who had been unconscious in the hospital wing, the one who had been guarded by those two odd winged creatures.

"Just who do you think they are?" Malfoy sneered at him.

Touya left his position at Snape's shoulder, circling the Malfoys in a very predatory manor.

"I am nothing more than the psychic who sees into your black, treacherous soul. You led him to the slaughter once before, by pretending to be his only friend, and now once more, you seek to use the pretence of friendship to repeat that betrayal," Touya hissed.

Off to the side, out of the way, Yukito shifted uncomfortably, knowing that both he and Kero were fighting the urge to change, they could both feel the evil radiating from this pale man.

"How dare you?" Malfoy snarled, swinging his cane, intending to hit Touya. Touya caught it, pulling it out of his hand and snapping it over his knee.

"I do not fear you, you pathetic little man, you are a bully, and bullies are not even worthy of my contempt. You're even so insecure in yourself that you bespell your own child to follow you, instead of giving him free will to chose his path. Leave, get off the grounds of this school, and do not dare return," Touya growled.

Draco had been in the act of drawing his wand, to curse this person insulting his father, when he heard that last accusation. He dropped his arm to his side, he wand hanging lose at his side.

"Is that true father, that you put a spell on me?" he demanded.

"Of course I did, you were such a disobedient, undisciplined whelp as a child. I couldn't trust you to obey me once you started here," Malfoy senior sneered at his son.

Snape gripped his godson's shoulder, pulling him away from his father and pushing him behind him, between himself and Hiiragizawa.

"Get out, before I forget I am on the side of the light, and practice my forbidden curses on you," Severus snarled.

"Letting him go would be a mistake," Eriol said softly.

"What?" the others demanded.

"Harsh as it is, we are at war here, and if we let him leave, with what he knows, then not one of us would be safe setting foot off the grounds until the war is over."

Panicking, Malfoy grabbed Touya, holding his wand to his throat, not realizing that was actually the most foolish thing he could have done. There was an enraged roar, and a muscular lion leapt at him from the side, his jaws closing on the pale throat as he tore the threat away from his master and bore him to the floor. When Cerberus stepped back, his muzzle bloody, Malfoy senior was clearly dead, his eyes stared sightlessly at the ceiling, his neck broken, his throat a bloody mess.

"Severus, get Draco out of here, and make sure no one leaves the great hall," Eriol ordered, pushing the shaking boy who was staring wide eyed at his father's body, into Snape's arms.

Snape obeyed, pulling Draco away from the scene, over to the doors of the hall, inside which, everyone was laughing and joking, enjoying their dinner.

"Draco?"

"What he did to me, he deserved to die, but to see it, like that…."

"I know Draco, I know. You know you would be safest if you mentioned nothing you have seen out here. There are students in the school who are already loyal to Voldemort, whether they are marked or not. We'll see about that spell, as soon as we can, Hiiragizawa might be able to do something about it, if it isn't already broken."

"I understand sir. What's going to happen to me now? Mother is gone; father is gone, what is going to happen to me?"

"Well, unless he had time to change his will, you come into my care until you reach 18. Even if he has changed it, I'll not let you go to someone like him, someone in Voldemort's service, unless….unless that is what you want."

"NO! I have NO desire to go on my knees to that monster."

"Well, it looks like the spell is starting to weaken. Go, join your house, keep your head down until I come and get you again."

Draco shifted uncomfortably, looking at the ground.

"I don't want to join my house; they're all loyal to HIM."

"All of them? I had no idea it was that bad. You wouldn't like the only other option I can think of right now, Draco,"

"What?"

"There is only one group of people I can be fairly sure has no loyalty to Voldemort what so ever," he shrugged.

"Potter and co. They'll never accept me, even for a minute."

"Come on," Snape said, pulling him into the hall, and casting a quick spell to lock the door behind him, so no one could get out without his knowledge.

Taking him over to the Gryffindor table, he stood behind Harry and Hermione.

"Mr. Potter, Miss. Granger, I will be leaving my godson with you, until I have cleared up a couple of issues. I would hope in this company, he will be treated with respect."

They turned to see who Ron was gawping at, and their jaws dropped when they saw Malfoy standing with the professor, his head bowed, his eyes fixed on the floor. Silently, Hermione and Harry shuffled apart, leaving room for Draco to sit between them at the now silent Gryffindor table where everyone was staring at the pale blond boy.

tbc


	5. Chapter 5

Harry and Hermione stared at the silent figure sitting between them, Harry trying to figure out which of the questions barreling round in his head would be safe to ask.

"Your godfather?" he finally blurted.

Draco nodded silently, still not looking up.

"How come we never heard about that? I would have thought it was the kind of thing you wouldn't be able to stop yourself bragging about," Ron sneered tactlessly.

Draco's shoulders hunched, and Harry and Hermione saw two tears splash onto his clasped hands.

"Shut up Ronald, leave him alone. I don't think that's what professor Snape meant by respect," Hermione snarled at her boyfriend.

"Draco? Are you all right?" Harry asked quietly.

The blond head shook slightly, and more tears fell onto his hands.

"What's wrong?"

Draco shook his head again, and Harry looked at Hermione helplessly. She shrugged and put a hand on his shoulder, feeling him flinch.

"Come on, it can't be that bad," she soothed.

"Want a bet?" he choked out with a strained laugh, speaking for the first time. He looked up, studying her through his reddened eyes.

"Why are you being nice to me, after all the horrible things I said to you?"

"Because the professor asked us to treat you with respect, because you're obviously upset, because for some reason, you are sitting over here, and not over there with the rest of your house. Take your pick," she shrugged.

He offered her a faint smile, grateful for the apparent forgiveness that he wasn't remotely sure he deserved, before he returned his attention back to his hands.

Snape came back, resting one hand on Draco's shoulder.

"Come on, professor Hiiragizawa will see you in his office, now."

"It…it's ok….out there?"

"Its fine, come on."

Draco got up, moving quietly after his godfather, without looking back at the Gryffindor table.

"Do you think he's in trouble?" Ron asked gloatingly.

"No, I think something is wrong," Hermione said, watching them thoughtfully.

Eriol was waiting when Severus brought the unhappy boy to his office, his staff in hand.

"What…..what did you do with him?" Draco whispered.

"We put him somewhere he will be found, so that your future can be assured, but he will leave no link to the school. Do you really want the details, Draco?" Eriol asked gently.

"No, sir, I don't, I really don't. Can you break the spell he put on me?"

"Oh, I should think so, just stand in the middle of the floor there. Severus, I thought you wanted to talk to Albus, he's probably heading back to his office right now."

Snape glared at Eriol, but took the hint and left him to work while he went to tell Albus what had been going on.

xxx

As Touya had been told not to use his magic for a couple of days, he set to work scrubbing the markings off the walls and floors the old fashioned way, with soap and water. He had refused to let the other two help, so Yue and Cerberus sat on the stairs up to the living quarters, watching him.

"Are you angry at me, for killing that foul man?" Kero finally asked in a low voice.

Touya stopped scrubbing, looking up, startled at the question.

"What? No, of course not, you did what you needed to do, and you freed that poor boy at the same time. You did right Kero. What I'm angry about, is that he thought it was an acceptable thing to do, that his master probably encouraged it. How many others, how many others are trapped on his side against their will, no way out? How many are likely to die in this war in the name of a cause they don't actually believe in?" Touya demanded, throwing the scrubbing brush across the room in his rage.

"You're going to help them, aren't you?" Yue asked.

"I don't know. I don't want to get involved, but…..he can't be allowed to win, he can't win."

"What did you make the new card for, koi?" he asked, ruffling his wings.

"What new card?"

"You created a new card, right before you broke the circles. We couldn't hear what you called it, but it should be in the deck," Yue said.

Touya wiped his hands on his trousers to dry them, and pulled out the cards.

"Whose house is it in?"

"Yue's," Kero said with certainty.

"Moon Ruled, send the new card to the top," he said.

A glow ran up the deck, and when it reached the top, he turned over the top card.

"Huh, Spy card," he mused, handing it to Yue.

The moon guardian studied it closely, the figure on the card was a bird, its feathers appearing black, a raven, he thought. He noticed that the branch it was standing on bore a black skull, the top bisected by a lightening bolt.

"It carries a taint of the dark magic you took from them," Yue said, pointing out the mark as he handed it back.

"But modified, and confined to the branch. I think it contains just enough of a taint that they wouldn't notice it's presence among them," he said, sliding the card back into the deck.

"Still doesn't mean I've decided to help them though," he said, getting up with a sigh to retrieve the brush he'd thrown.

Yue and Kero looked at one another, wondering if Touya really would be able to stay out of it, now that he knew how low Voldemort's followers would go.

"Touya, koi, come to bed, you can do this in the morning, you need to rest tonight," Yue said, rising and gliding over to hold his hand out to his lover. Touya looked up at him for a long moment, and then allowed Yue to pull him to his feet and lead him up the stairs, the moon guardian extinguishing the lights as he went.

xxx

Severus went back to Eriol's office, finding Eriol sitting at his desk, and Draco curled asleep on a couch he had conjured across the room.

"What did Albus have to say?" Eriol asked softly.

"He was a little shocked that Malfoy had been killed, but when I told him how it happened, he didn't seem surprised," Severus sighed, taking the chair across the desk.

"The only thing that surprised me about it was that it was Kero who got to him first. What did he say about Draco?" Eriol asked.

"He said that until we are informed of the death of his father by the ministry, Draco will have to appear not to know. Merlin alone knows how we're going to explain how upset he was tonight though, why I left him with the Gryffindors."

"We can always fake a letter from his father, disciplining him for some perceived misbehavior. Or I believe Mr. Weasley wondered if he was in trouble with me, when you went to get him, run with that, say I found him nosing through my stuff, and you put him with his 'enemies' so that he didn't have the support of his friends."

"I'll think about it tonight, it's too late to send him to his dorm now, he'll have to spend the night on the couch in my quarters. How did it go?"

"The spell had already started to weaken when Kero-chan um, defended his master, so it was easy enough to remove the last traces of it. He will be fine, but I'm not sure he wants to remain in Slytherin, Severus."

"Given that he told me the entire house was loyal to that snake faced bastard, I don't blame him; I don't want to remain in the house."

"Hmm, I wonder, how many are truly loyal, and how many, like Draco, were forced to claim loyalty by parental pressure."

"Well, the only way to find out would be to dose them all with veritasserum, and that is illegal."

"Touya-san might be willing to check them, but realistically he would have to check every student in the school. There is nothing at all to say the only ones loyal to that monster are in Slytherin, in fact, that would be a truly foolish assumption."

"If he can do it, why can't you? He needed that lion to defend him today, so he's clearly not that strong if he has any magic at all."

"Ah, no, Severus, Touya was told not to use his magic for a few days because he had drained himself. This is not for general knowledge, I have no wish at all to turn Voldemort's attention in Touya's direction, because after he was through killing Voldemort he would cheerfully come and kill me. Touya-san was the one who freed you and Harry from your chains to the dark lord. He took Voldemort's dark magic, and bent it to HIS will."

"Merlin, so down there in the entrance hall?"

"He was relying on a different power, one that is akin to breathing to him, he was born psychic. He was an alarmingly acute psychic in fact; he took a lot of distracting…never mind. Anyway, he gave it up, to save someone he loved, and when his power was returned to him, all sorts of interesting magic woke within him."

"Would he be willing to examine all of the students?" Severus asked.

"I don't know I wish I did, Severus. He doesn't want to get involved in this war, but finding out what Draco's father had done to him…I don't know. I suspect we'll find out, sooner rather than later, he is not known for his patience."

"So what are we supposed to do now?"

"Now, we train Harry; get him ready to face Voldemort when the battle comes. I asked an old friend to come and help with some one on one training when Albus asked me to come here, and he's going to be arriving tomorrow. It should be interesting," Eriol sighed.

"Why?"

"Because he and Kinomoto-san hate each other," Eriol grinned.

"You are strange, Hiiragizawa. I should get Draco out of here."

"Goodnight, Severus."

Snape went over and picked Draco up, carrying him from the room.

xxx

Li Sayoran stepped off the old fashioned steam train when it stopped at Hogsmead station, looking around for anyone he recognized. The only other person he could see on the platform was a very tall man with long dark hair, standing up by the engine, talking to the conductor. The conductor handed the tall man a parcel with a smile, and the man bowed his head gravely.

"Li-kun, glad you could make it," Hiiragizawa's voice from the side startled his attention away from the man he had been staring at.

"Hiiragizawa," Sayoran nodded to him, picking his bag up.

"I see Touya-san caught your attention,"

"Touya? Kinomoto?"

"That _is_ who you were staring at, Li-kun,"

"No way, what's he doing here?"

"We live here, Gaki, what's your excuse?"

Touya's voice, from so close behind them, made them both jump; neither of them had heard or sensed him coming.

"I asked Li-kun to come and help train Harry for the battle that will come," Eriol said.

Touya frowned slightly, but didn't make the snarky comment that Li had expected, instead he nodded slightly.

"Welcome to Hogsmead, Gaki." Touya snorted, turning away from them.

"Kinomoto-san, a moment, please?" Eriol asked before Touya had taken two steps.

"Hiiragizawa, I don't want to get involved in your war, I did my bit," Touya growled without looking back.

"I know, and we're grateful, but I was wondering something."

"What?"

"Is there any way you can think of that we can ascertain the loyalties of everyone in the school? The only possibility they know of would be illegal, and I don't know any kind of truth spell that would cover that many people at the same time."

"Why would it have to be at the same time?"

"Because we couldn't risk anyone hearing about what we were doing and finding some way to evade the question."

Touya looked at Eriol as if he thought he was dense, and then sighed, shaking his head.

"That's the problem with you, Hiiragizawa; you always try to think on too large a scale. Think smaller."

"What?"

"Think about it. If you really can't figure it out for yourself, I'll tell you," Touya snorted, walking away.

Hiiragizawa scowled at the departing back, wondering if Touya had ever driven his father this batty, or if this was a recent thing that went with his growing resemblance to Clow Reed.

"Well, he hasn't changed at all," Li growled.

"Hmm, come on Li-kun, we should get up to the school, if you want time to freshen up before lunch."

Eriol led him to the coach that Dumbledore had ordered for them, ushering him inside.

"Well, as you're technically going to be part of the staff, even if you are only going to be teaching the upper two years sword work, I think I should fill you in a little. Hogwarts students are divided into four houses; they stay in those houses from the moment they are sorted to the moment they graduate. Any teacher who catches a student out of their house after curfew or doing anything they shouldn't in the halls or classrooms will discipline them by deducting house points, so the students all know that their transgressions will cost not just them, but everyone."

"So after a certain time of night there should be no students anywhere but in their own rooms?" Li asked, looking for confirmation.

"Not exactly, they're not allowed out of their houses, unless they're in the hospital wing………" Eriol groaned, banging his head back against the wood of the carriage behind him.

"Baka, baka, baka…" he muttered in time with each bang.

"What? Hiiragizawa, get a grip," Li yelled.

"Think smaller, Li-kun. The students can be anywhere inside their houses after curfew, but they do have to be inside their house, unless they're in the hospital wing. We don't need a spell I can cast over everyone at once; I only need to do it in stages. Clear the staff clear anyone who might be in the hospital wing, then cast the spell house by house and leave the questioning to the heads of house. We could probably get the whole school done in one night. All we need to do is script the questions carefully to make sure there are no loopholes anyone can slide through," Eriol sighed. Maybe Touya was right, maybe he always did try to think too big.

"So why won't he help? I never had him pegged as a coward before."

"He's not a coward Li-kun, and he is right, he did his bit. He nearly killed himself a few days ago to help us. I wish he would help us more, we could certainly use him, but I'm not going to force the issue, it wouldn't be fair, and I promised Yue."

Li shrugged, knowing better than to push any further, and beside, he didn't want to always be looking over his shoulder if Touya was around, he didn't trust him not to do anything.

"I spoke to Tomoyo-chan before I left for London," he offered.

"Really, how is she?" Eriol asked with a fond smile.

"She sounds happy enough, but I'm not sure, I think she still misses Sakura," he said.

"We all still miss Sakura, especially her brother, I think. Do not mention her to him unless he brings her up," Eriol warned.

"Not a problem, I doubt I'll even talk to him again. Anyway, Tomoyo has a new girlfriend; they were thinking of visiting you apparently, they wanted to spend some time in England."

"That is a wonderful idea; I would love to see her again, as would Kaho I believe. I must get in touch with her, and invite her to come to the mansion during the Christmas holidays, when the school is out."

"I think she would like that."

Eriol looked out of the window as the school came into view, and nudged the other young man's arm.

"There's the school, welcome to Hogwarts, Li-kun," he smiled.

Li looked out of the window, and then looked at Hiiragizawa with wide eyes.

"THAT is a SCHOOL?" he gulped, stunned at the sheer size of the place.

"Yes, I think you're going to like it here, Li-kun."

"Really, because I think I'm going to get lost," Li said.

"No, as long as you watch out for the staircases, you should be fine," Eriol smiled.

"The staircases?"

"Yes, they move. Oh, and you might want to watch out for Peeves as well," Eriol mused.

"Peeves?"

"He's the poltergeist. He likes playing tricks on people, the rest of the ghosts are fine, but you really do need to watch out for him."

"Right, yes, fine. Hiiragizawa, what the hell kind of madhouse are you taking me into?"

Eriol just laughed as the carriage rattled to a stop outside the doors of the school, jumping out before it had fully stopped moving to find Kaho and Minerva waiting.

"Li-kun, I would like you to meet Minerva McGonagall, the deputy head of the school, and head of house for Gryffindor. Minerva, Li Sayoran, he will be teaching the fifth and sixth years sword work, as well as helping with that other project."

"Very pleased to meet you, Mr. Li," she said, shaking his hand.

"Just Li, please, Ms. McGonagall."

"Well, come along inside, the house elves will bring your luggage to your room. You can go to your room now and freshen up, then meet the rest of the staff at lunch, or you can come and meet the staff now, and freshen up after lunch," she said, leading the way inside.

"I believe I would like to go to my room first, if it isn't too much trouble."

"I'll show him the way, and tell him how to set the password," Eriol said, putting his hand on Li's shoulder and steering him toward the stairs.

"Very well," she said.

Minerva and Kaho went off toward the staff room, and Eriol guided Li up the stairs, pointing out the one he would have to jump over.

tbc


	6. Chapter 6

Yue knelt astride Touya's lower back, his strong fingers kneading the tense muscles of his shoulders, trying to work the knots out. Touya had been tense since he came back from picking their parcel up from the train.

"Are you ready to tell me what's bothering you yet?" he asked his lover as Touya's shoulders finally started to relax a little.

"I saw Hiiragizawa at the station; he was meeting a passenger off the train."

"What does that have to do with your muscles being tied in knots? He didn't start pressuring you did he?"

"No, he was meeting the Gaki, he brought him here."

"The Gak…Li?" Yue asked, startled.

"Yes. He's here to train the Potter boy, as well as teach the older students to use swords. Yue, I…"

"What?"

"I saw him die," Touya said softly.

Yue lifted up to allow Touya to turn over onto his back, before settling back across his hips, his long fingers lightly caressing the smooth, warm skin of his chest.

"How, when?" he asked as Touya reached out to gather up the long silk of his hair, starting to loose it from the ties that held it.

"Not sure when, soon I think. Out there in the street though, defending the students," Touya said distantly.

"Are you going to warn him?" Yue asked closing his eyes and banishing his wings as Touya sat up and summoned a brush, starting to brush through the pale strands. He leaned forward to kiss Touya as he basked in the contact.

"I don't know, I suspect he wouldn't believe me if I did, he will think I'm trying scare him off," Touya sighed a couple of minutes later when Yue leaned back again.

"So what are you going to do?"

"Warn Hiiragizawa to watch him, keep an eye out for any time the Gaki is down here with a bunch of students. Nothing more I can do."

They looked over at their bedroom doorway at the sound of claws clicking on the wood. Kero padded in, his eyes pointedly averted from the bed.

"Kero, we're both dressed, near enough," Touya laughed, shaking his head.

"Not a risk I'm willing to take. There is someone knocking on the shop door," he rumbled, looking up.

"Who?" Touya asked as the two of them got off the bed, he pulled his shirt back on. There was nothing they could do about the fact that Yue's hair was tumbled loose to pool on the floor right now.

"Couldn't tell."

"Come on then," Touya led the way out, cautiously summoning his staff. He couldn't stop himself smiling at what he heard from behind him.

"Kero, I swear if you pounce on my hair, I will pluck your wings, and shave your fur off the very next time you go to sleep."

"Who is it?" Touya called as they reached the door.

"Hiiragizawa."

Touya growled as he opened the door, allowing his staff to shrink back down.

"What?"

"Sorry to intrude, Touya-san, but Dumbledore asked me to come and invite you all to join us for dinner."

"I don't think so."

"He is not planning to pressure you into doing anything more than you have already done, he just wishes to have the opportunity to thank you for what you did for Harry and Severus. To give them a chance to thank you too," Eriol said.

"No, not while Li is going to be around."

"Touya-san, I know you don't like him…."

"It has nothing at all to do with not liking him. No matter how much I hate him, I do not really desire to spend the entire evening watching him die over and over," Touya snapped.

Eriol paused, his head tilting to the side curiously.

"You have foreseen his death?"

"This evening when I met the two of you on the platform," Touya confirmed.

"Ah, were you able to ascertain any details?"

"Come inside. I'm not talking about this out here where anyone could be listening," Touya sighed, stepping back to allow him to enter. He caught Eriol's look of surprise when his eyes fell on the moon guardian's unbound hair, and growled again, pulling his attention.

"Sorry, seeing Yue like that is just unexpected. You were going to tell me more about what you saw," Eriol said, getting back to business.

"Out there in the street, he is hit with some kind of green light, and dies instantly, trying to protect a group of the students from the school."

"Arvada Kadavera, a dark spell, a prohibited spell. It is popular with Voldemort and his followers. Were you able to get any idea of when?"

"Nothing certain there was no conveniently placed issue of that newspaper they have here. Winter, I think, everyone was bundled up anyway, and I think……there was snow, traces of snow on the ground," he murmured, his eyes going vacant as he pulled the vision to the forefront of his mind.

"Newly fallen, or fading away?"

"Sorry, no idea Hiiragizawa," Touya shrugged.

"I will keep an eye on him, thank you, Touya-san."

Touya shrugged it off, his dark blue eyes fixing on Hiiragizawa, who looked like he wanted to say something.

"There is something else?"

"Yes, I am planning to invite Tomoyo-chan and her new girlfriend to spend Christmas in the mansion with us. I think she would very much like to see you again, to know you were well and safe. Please give some thought to the three of you spending the holiday with us."

"Us?"

"Myself, Kaho, Li and Ruby and Spinniel of course. Tomoyo and her girlfriend, if they accept and I also though to invite Harry, and possibly Draco and Severus, depending on the outcome of the will reading once Lucius's body is found."

"I will give it some thought, thank you, Hiiragizawa."

Eriol nodded and turned for the door, pleased that Touya had not rejected the invitation out of hand, waiting for the taller man to unlock the door again to let him out.

xxx

Draco walked quietly to his usual seat at the Slytherin table, sliding in silently between Crabbe and Goyle. This was the first time he had come near the other student of his house since the incidents last night, and he knew it was only going to be a matter of seconds before someone asked him why he had been sitting with their arch enemies last night.

"What were you doing at the Gryffindork table yesterday, and where have you been since?" Pansy demanded, right on cue.

"Professor Hiiragizawa caught me poking through his classroom yesterday. Sitting me over there was his idea of starting my punishment, keep me away from my friends," he said, hoping they didn't notice the way he almost choked on the word _friends _as he said it.

"And today?"

"Detention, all day, with Snape and Hiiragizawa."

"Snape agreed to that?" she squawked, outraged.

"He didn't have much choice, it was either agree to that, or Hiiragizawa would push for expulsion. I would rather spend the day in detention than have my father informed I was under threat of being kicked out of school," he said, glad he and his Godfather had gone through this story all day to make sure he didn't waver at the mention of his father. He quickly shunted his mind away from the image of Lucius Malfoy lying in a spreading pool of blood in the entry hall.

"It will be a relief when the Dark Lord wins this war, and we won't have to worry about half bloods and morons like him causing trouble for us," Zach Blackstone sneered from the other side of Pansy.

Draco noticed that only Crabbe and Goyle chuckled and laughed as they were expected to. Blaise and Pansy looked at one another for a moment, before both glancing at Draco and dropping their eyes away. He frowned internally, wondering if they were as loyal to the dark lord as they were made out to be, they seemed to be scared of what he might be thinking. Maybe he wasn't as alone in the house as he thought he was.

"So, what do you think of the new teacher?" Pansy asked, changing the subject.

"New teacher?" Draco asked, looking up at the teachers table for the first time. There was a man sitting beside Hiiragizawa, broad shouldered, with intense eyes and a surly expression.

"He's going to be teaching us, well, the upper two years, how to fight with swords. He's kind of cute, I think, in a brooding kind of way." Pansy sighed.

Draco rolled his eyes; Pansy had the attention span of a gnat when it came to cute guys. She could be madly in love with someone, and another guy could walk across her field of vision, and she was in love again. She had even had a crush on his Godfather at one point, as if that was going to happen. Sev was in no way interested in women, and Draco had a horrible feeling that Sev had feelings for someone in Gryffindor.

"I thought Professor Hiiragizawa was the hottest guy you had ever seen," Blaise teased.

"Pft, he is so last week," she dismissed.

"So, who's going to Hogsmead tomorrow?" Draco asked. He didn't particularly want to go himself, but Sev had told him that he had to, that he had to seem like everything was as normal as possible until he was told officially that his father was dead.

"I don't know, I should do some revision, I have to go home for Christmas break, and my father will want me to meet too many people for me to do a lot of studying," Blaise said.

"Come on, Christmas break is weeks away, and I bet you haven't done all your shopping." Draco cajoled, because he wasn't the type of guy who took no for an answer.

"I haven't even started it," Blaise admitted.

"Good, so, you're in. Pans?"

"Yes, I want to see that new shop, the one that they reckon might be run by muggles or squibs."

Draco nodded, hoping that it was just curiosity, and not orders from Voldemort. If the shop was run by who he thought she was talking about, he didn't fancy seeing that fearsome magical creature pissed off again.

"Good," he said turning his attention to his plate.

xxx

Yukito was manning the shop again when the three Slytherins came in the next morning. He recognized Draco, but said nothing; he just hoped the boy had been warned that he wasn't supposed to know them.

"Is this the muggle shop?" Pansy asked, looking down her nose at the slender, grey haired young man behind the counter.

"No, this is a shop which happens to sell some non magical artifacts, and if you're going to be offensive, I would request that you leave now," Yukito said, standing up from his stool behind the counter so that it would be easier to change if he had to.

"Pans, don't be an ass, we're supposed to be Christmas shopping. You're going to get us banned from leaving the school grounds if you start offending all of the shop owners," Blaise groaned, poking her in the side.

She sniffed haughtily and moved to look at the shelves on the magical side of the shop, leaving Blaise to follow after her. Draco sighed and moved to the non magical side of the shop curiously, wondering what they could be selling over here. He found ordinary jewelry boxes, candle holders and the like, and surprisingly, muggle books on magic spells and telling the future with Runes, Tarot, and the I-ching, along with black silk cloths marked with pentagrams and decks of brightly colored tarot card, carved rune stones and I-ching counters.

"I thought that it was non magical stuff on this side?" Draco asked.

"It is. The non magical world still has a fascination with magic. Somewhere along the line there was probably real knowledge in the production of these items for humans, but the knowledge has become corrupted or lost altogether, the rune stones are incomplete, as is the I-ching, and as for the tarot decks, Touya thought they were the funniest thing he had seen in quite some time," Yukito smiled, looking over.

"He doesn't believe?"

"Of course he does, there are true decks on the other side of the room, as well as complete rune stones and I-ching counters."

"So why do you have this stuff?"

"Joke gifts for the students to give to younger siblings mainly."

Draco nodded, turning away from the shelves. He had no siblings, and that was never likely to change now.

Pansy and Blaise had apparently found some things they wanted to buy, Pansy was carrying two spelled jewelry boxes, to give to her sisters, he supposed, and Blaise had found a wand holster that would polish the wand when it wasn't being used.

Yukito was just wrapping the boxes for Pansy when the curtain blocking off the back of the shop rustled, and Touya stepped through. He was wearing a long, heavy, hooded cloak, and was pulling black leather gloves on as he stepped into the shop. He nodded politely to the students, before turning his attention to Yukito.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, I'm leaving Kero here with you, so please don't do too much damage to each other if you fight."

"Of course not, just plucking and shaving, as promised," he smirked, his eyes lightening to violet.

Touya groaned and leaned over to kiss his lover without giving it a thought, sighing as he pulled away after a moment.

"Nothing I can't mend, please," he asked before vanishing out of the door.

Yukito was left with the three students staring at him open mouthed. He raised his eyebrows at them.

"Have you never seen two people kiss before?" he asked.

"Not like that, that was so sweet," Pansy said dreamily.

Yukito refrained from either rolling his eyes, or switching forms and shooting the vapid girl, and forced his voice to its normal cheerful tone as he took her money for the boxes.

xxx

Touya walked into the Three Broomsticks, which was packed to the brim with students drinking butterbeer and eating whatever they had decided on for lunch. Heading for the bar, he nodded distractedly to the Gryffindor trio, who were seated at a table beside the fire.

"What can I get you?" Madam Rosemerta asked as he reached the bar.

"Just a floo journey please,"

"Local?"

"Diagon alley,"

She measured out the floo powder for him, and took the silver coin he slid across the counter, before eyeing up the crowded room.

"Go and use the floo in the other room dear."

"Thank you," Touya said, taking the powder and fighting through to the quieter room that was where all the older people hid out when the Hogwarts students descended on the pub. He nodded to a couple of the other shop keepers, warily skirted the Weasley twins, who looked like they were plotting something, and made it to the fire.

"Diagon Alley," he said clearly, as he threw in the powder and stepped into the flames the moment they turned green.

He stepped gracefully out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron, growling softly as he brushed soot off himself without stopping walking in the direction of the door into the backyard. He put his hand on the center of the trigger for the wall and let a tiny bit of his power wash out, hinting that wand or not, the wall damn well better get out of his way. The wall opened up rapidly, snapping shut behind him with a sulky sounding thud once he had stepped through.

Ollivander's was quiet when he got there, seemingly deserted, but he knew better, he could sense the old man puttering in the back, waiting to jump out and surprise his customer as he liked to do.

"Oh, its you," Ollivander said when he popped up.

"Of course it's me, you sent an Owl, telling me that the item we discussed is ready."

"Yes, indeed. It was a fascinating challenge, it has been centuries since our family was asked to make anything like this," Ollivander said, suddenly enthusiastic. He picked up something wrapped in heavy black velvet, setting it gently on the counter.

"I wouldn't recommend subjecting it to floo travel, not before it's completed to bind the magic properly anyway. Are you sure you don't want me to have…"

"That's fine; I'm getting the train back. I can finish it myself, just this part had to be done by a professional," Touya cut him off, resting a hand on top of the velvet and feeling the muted thrum of the magic in it.

"Very well." Ollivander sighed, taking the pre agreed price that Touya handed to him.

"If there is anything else I can do for you, don't hesitate to let me know," Ollivander said as Touya picked his purchase up.

Touya briefly toyed with the idea of getting a wand, so he didn't have to threaten the wall to make it open, but then dismissed the idea with a shudder at the thought of what might happen with his power in something as small as a wizard wand. His staff was much better suited to wielding the energy in him.

"Thank you, I'll bear that in mind," he finally said, making sure he had a firm grip on his parcel before heading back out into the bustle of the alley.

xxx

Dinner in the great hall was just finishing when Draco saw an officious looking ministry owl swoop down on Dumbledore's position on the table, dropping a bulky letter down in front of him. A moment later, two owls he recognized as coming from Malfoy manor swept in, one dropping a small packet in front of him, and the other dropping a similar packet in front of Severus. Dumbledore opened the letter he had received, and looked from Draco to Severus, and Draco looked at his Godfather, knowing that this had to be it; his father's body must have been discovered. It was time to find out if he was going to be going into his Godfather's care or if his father had had time to change his will before coming to the school.

"Mr. Malfoy, Professor Snape, please accompany me to my office," Dumbledore said, rising from his chair.

Still looking at each other, Draco and Severus picked up their packets and followed the headmaster from the room. Eriol watched them go with worried eyes, hoping it would work out for the two the way they wanted. Draco needed a decent father figure in his life, and Severus needed someone to care about, to smooth some of the edges off him.

tbc


	7. Chapter 7

Yue and Kero looked at one another as they heard Touya come in and go straight into the workroom at the back of the shop. They were both mussed from the wrestling match that had ensued when Yue had 'attempted' to carry out his threat to pluck and shave Kero as soon as the shop was shut. Yue stopped working the tangles out of the ends of his hair and rose, ruffling his wings briefly to straighten the feathers out, hearing Kero do the same beside him before they went downstairs together.

Touya had taken his cloak and gloves off, and was now unfolding thick black velvet from around something which lay on the workbench, which he had covered with a white silk cloth.

"What is it?" Yue asked curiously, moving to the end of the bench to see what was being revealed. Kero shrank into his plushie form so that he could hover and see what was going on, without getting in the way.

"A mirror," Touya said, pulling back the last fold.

"Why do you need another mirror? Is something wrong with the mirror card?" Yue asked, alarmed, she was among his favorites of his cards, even if she did still have a terrible crush on her master.

"Of course not, she's fine. This is a different type of mirror entirely," Touya said, catching Kero by the scruff of his neck gently between his middle finger and thumb as he fluttered closer to the newly revealed mirror and setting him to rest on Yue's shoulder.

"Stay," he said softly.

"Woof," Kero huffed slightly, but he settled down watch from his perch.

"There is a lot of magic in it though, what is it for?" Yue asked, shifting lose strands of hair away from where Kero nestled. He didn't have all the tangles out yet, and he wasn't eager to add more, and Kero couldn't keep his paws to himself.

Touya smiled, and summoned his staff, not answering. He knew Yue would figure it out pretty much as soon as he started the spell.

/x/

Draco and Severus sat down nervously in the chairs Dumbledore indicated, watching as he re-read the letter from the ministry. He knew he was going to have to do this formally, or the parchment wouldn't return to the ministry vaults as formal acceptance of the receipt and execution of the will.

"Draco Malfoy, it is my sad duty to inform you of the death of your father, Lucius Malfoy, in an unfortunate animal attack. I, Albus Dumbledore, have been named executor of the last will and testament of Lucius Malfoy, and I will now carry out that duty," he said.

The letter rolled itself up with a snap and hovered in front of him until he marked it with the school seal, and then vanished in a puff of smoke, to the Malfoy section of the ministry vaults.

"I'm afraid to hear what it says. What if it names _him _as my guardian," Draco whispered.

"Then one of his cronies would have been name executor. Even Lucius wouldn't expect the headmaster to just hand you over to Voldemort, no matter what his will said," Snape said with more confidence than he felt.

"I'm sure Severus is right," he said, not bothering to point out that until right before he died, Lucius had believed Snape to be loyal to Voldemort, as he cracked the seal on the parchment that held the will.

"All right, I assume your main concern at the moment is guardianship?" he asked, flipping the pages of the will as he scanned it for mentions of Draco's name along with the word guardian.

"Yes," Draco and Severus said as one.

"Ah, here," he said as he came to the end of the second page, he breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back in his chair, smiling over at them benevolently.

"Severus Snape, you are hereby named guardian of Draco Malfoy until his 18th birthday, at which time, he is sure that you will set his son onto the right path to his future," he said.

"Thank Merlin for that, I will accept the guardianship, even if the path he is set on is not quite the one his father envisioned," Snape said, muttering the last under his breath.

"There are various bequests for people who we have suspected for some time to be Death Eaters, probably an indirect way of passing what he could on to Voldemort, including some of the lesser properties that came into the family from his marriage to Narcissa. The bulk of the estate, including the Gringotts vaults, and Malfoy manor, are to be held in trust until Draco comes of age, with the exception of a small monthly allowance,"

"All I care about right now is that I get to stay with my godfather," Draco whispered. He knew he would have to think about the manor and the vaults at some point, especially as he knew there were some very dubious artifacts in the vaults, but he was too tired right now.

"Of course, as soon as Severus signs here to accept guardianship of you, you can both go and get some rest, I know this has been a hard couple of days for both of you," Dumbledore said.

Severus signed, after carefully checking that he wasn't agreeing to something that put Draco in harm's way at some point in the future, but the wording had been so ambiguous due to Lucius's paranoia about ending up back in Azkaban, that all he was agreeing to was guiding Draco on the right path, no specifics over what that path was to be.

/x/

Syaoran stood at the top of the astronomy tower, looking out over the darkened grounds to the jagged peaks of the mountains surrounding much of the school grounds beyond the boundaries, darker sentinels against the darkness of the starlit sky. From what he had seen, this place was beautiful, Sakura would have loved it here, despite the threat of war hanging over the place, she had always seen the best in everyone and everything.

He had spent two years carefully preserving his memories of her, packing them away in his mind so that he could pull them out when being without her got too much, and seeing Kinomoto Touya today on that platform had blown most of his memories wide open again. It hurt, the rush of memories, a bittersweet pain as he remembered her laughter, her courage, her determination, the sadness in her eyes when he had left, and the joy and love when he had returned for another blissful year before duty pulled him away again. It hurt too to remember that she had died while he had been gone, that he hadn't seen her for months, that she had never known that this trip to China would hopefully be the last without her at his side. He still had the ring he had bought just days before the accident, he would never part with it, it was threaded onto the cord of his amulet now, so that it would always rest close to his heart and so that she could guide his hand in battle when he summoned his sword.

He realized his cheeks were wet as he heard footsteps in the doorway to the tower, and dashed the tears away, trying to compose his expression as he turned, expecting one of the students to be there, but it wasn't.

"Ruby Moon, what are you doing up here?" he asked.

"I like it up here, when there are no classes of course; it's close to the moon. Eriol-kun doesn't like it when I fly; he says there's too much chance of someone seeing me, even at night. Why were you crying?" she asked.

"I wasn't crying," he snorted dismissively.

"Liar, I can still see the tracks on your face," she said.

"All right, then it's none of your business," he tried.

"Fine, then I'll tell Eriol-kun and he can ask you," she countered.

"I saw Kinomoto today, and it kind of dragged up a lot of memories of Sakura-chan," he sighed, folding. He would rather talk to the moon guardian than Hiiragizawa.

"Oh, is it bad to remember her then?" she asked, confused.

"What? Of course not, it will never ever be bad to remember Sakura, she meant the world to me, it just…hurts. It hurts a lot," he said.

"Oh," was all she said to that.

"I thought I had all the hurt buried away, had the memories of her carefully preserved behind shields to keep them pure, un-faded, to keep them from stabbing me in the heard every hour of every day, and two minutes, if that, in his company, and everything is blown wide open again," he said, kicking the thick stone of the wall in frustration.

"Maybe the pain would be easier to deal with if you didn't lock it away all the time," she offered.

"Nothing can make it easier to deal with," he sighed, pushing away from the wall and walking past her to the door.

"Maybe talking to Touya-san or Yue would help. They at least know where the pain is coming from," she suggested before he could step inside.

"Yeah right, I could just see me walking up to Kinomoto and telling him I want to talk about Sakura, I'd be dead before I finished saying the words," he snorted.

"I don't know, I think he's mellowed, kind of, he's on his way to forgiving me for what I pulled on him back then, and he's seen your death, and it wasn't him killing you," she said.

He spun to face her, and found her with her eyes wide and her hands clapped over her mouth.

"He's seen my death?"

"I shouldn't have said that," she whispered.

"Probably not, but you did. What did he see?"

"I don't know, I overheard Eriol-san telling Kaho that Touya-san had seen your death when you met at the station, and warned Eriol-san because he doubted that you would believe him. You would have to ask Eriol or Touya if you really want details,"

"You know, I don't think I want to know," he sighed.

"You don't?"

"No, especially not if it's going to be something completely embarrassing, like getting killed by one of my students with a practice sword, I would just rather not know," he shook his head and stepped inside the tower, leaving her alone at the top.

/x/

Touya felt Yue step up behind him as he looked at the now completed mirror on the bench.

"You must have ordered that before you ever created the card, before you even met Potter and Snape," he said.

"Yes, I did, but I wasn't sure why, I just knew it was going to be necessary," Touya sighed.

"You sounded like Clow then," Kero snorted.

"I know," Touya acknowledged.

"What are you going to do with it? It's no use to you, you can see what the card sees if you want to, can't you?" Yue asked.

"I think it's for someone at the school, they have a more vested interest in if the card can spy on Voldemort or not than I do."

"Hiiragizawa?" Kero asked.

"Him, or the Gaki, I don't know yet. I'll sleep on it," Touya shrugged.

"Come on, you need to eat something, I know you didn't eat in London, and you definitely didn't eat on the train," Yue said, switching back into his Yukito form and pulling Touya toward the stairs.

"We should test the mirror properly," Touya said, starting to pull away.

"Later, or tomorrow, you shouldn't have expended that magic yet anyway, you need to eat or you're not going to regain your strength properly," he said firmly.

Touya gave in as his stomach growled, allowing his lover to drag him up the stairs as Kero flew ahead, demanding to know what pudding he was going to be making.

/x/

Syaoran looked at the practice swords; sword shaped carved wood, weighted with lead to make them more realistic in weight. He was waiting for his first class to arrive, and wondering what the hell he had gotten into, he had been training in sword work since he was strong enough to summon and lift his sword, what the hell was he doing trying to teach what he had been learning for years to a bunch of young adults who had probably never even looked at a sword as anything more than decoration over their parents fire places.

"I doubt they're going to leap off the rack and bite you," a voice behind him made him leap out of his skin and spin to face the speaker.

"Will you stop creeping up on me Kinomoto," he snarled, his heart pounding.

"I wouldn't have thought so," Touya smirked.

"Are you here to try scare years off my life, or did you want something?" Li growled, gesturing to the door of the otherwise empty classroom.

"Because if you don't want something, I have a class due to arrive," he hinted.

"Yes, I want something, but now isn't the time if you have a class due," Touya said, looking down at the velvet wrapped bundle he held.

"I'm going to be here for an hour this morning, then I don't have another class until this afternoon. You could wait, if you wanted," he said diffidently.

"Fine, I'll wait out by the lake," Touya said, turning and walking out as silently as he had entered.

Syaoran sighed and returned to his study of the wooden swords, running basic drills over in his mind, trying to figure which of them would be best for a bunch of beginners.

/x/

Touya had only been sitting on the rock at the side of the lake for five minutes when he sensed Dumbledore coming, he didn't take his eyes of the giant squid in the lake he was watching, waiting to see how the old man would open the conversation.

"A beautiful spot for thinking, here," Dumbledore said.

"I'm not thinking, merely waiting," Touya said with a faint smile.

He knew Dumbledore's type, could subtly twist and turn a conversation to get the information he wanted, without you knowing you were giving it to him, but he had an advantage over the old man in that, part of him would now always be Clow Reed, and he was a master at this game.

"Are you waiting for something in particular?"

"Yes,"

"May I ask what?"

"You may ask," Touya acknowledged, saying nothing more.

"You're not going to tell me anything, are you?" Dumbledore realized.

Touya tilted his head to quirk a half smile at the old man.

"You haven't actually asked me anything that I have not answered, but no, I am not going to tell you anything," he said.

"May I sit?" he asked, gesturing to the rest of the wide rock, where the velvet wrapped mirror was resting.

"Of course," he said, moving the mirror so that it rested by his feet.

"Lucius Malfoy's body has been discovered," he said to the young man with the old eyes as he sat down.

"Really? I assume his son got the guardian he wanted?"

"Yes, he and Severus spent the evening yesterday deciding how they were going to deal with questions."

"Good," Touya smiled, he leaned back on the rock, looking up at the late October sky, the clouds scudding across the blue.

"We are having a special Halloween feast on Friday night, would you like to come?"

"I would, thank you," Touya said, knowing he had surprised the old man; he had turned down the other invitations that had been extended.

"Well, excellent. I should go, I'm expecting some owls, I will leave you to your…not thinking," he said.

Touya watched him go, shaking his head slightly at the lurid robes, wondering idly if the man was colorblind. He wasn't remotely surprised when Eriol appeared a few minutes later.

"You know, for a quiet spot, this place gets a lot of traffic," he snarked.

"Albus says you agreed to come to the feast on Friday. I was wondering why," he said.

"Because," Touya shrugged.

"Do you really think you can out Clow me?" Eriol asked, taking the place on the rock that Dumbledore had vacated.

"Do you really want to test it out?" he asked, making Eriol laugh. He might be the half reincarnation of the man, while Touya only carried the part of his soul that had been entwined with the magic he had been given, but Touya had had inscrutability down for a very long time on his own account.

"No," he admitted.

Touya smiled faintly, accepting the win, and then his eyes turned serious, and he looked back at the school.

"She will come, the way this place amplifies the energy of a ghost she will be visible to all, and he needs to see her, he needs to say goodbye," Touya said softly.

"Who will come?" Eriol asked, confused.

"Sakura-chan."

tbc


	8. Chapter 8

Eriol opened his mouth, and then closed it again, realizing that he had no idea what to say to that. Touya smiled faintly and looked at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't warn him, Eriol, he'll find some way to evade it, and he needs a chance to say goodbye."

"Why? You've seen his death, he'll be reunited with her if we can't prevent that," Eriol said idly.

"And you're saying you have no intention of preventing it, if you can? I'll probably never be his biggest fan, and I'll keep him alive if I can," he said.

"Alright," Eriol conceded.

Akizuki bounced out then; she hesitated for a moment when she saw that Touya was there, then walked over more sedately.

"Hello Touya-san," she said.

"Akizuki-san," he nodded.

"Did you want something Nakuru?" Eriol asked.

"We have a class in a little while, I want to know what you want set up," she said.

"Ah, first years, isn't it? I think we will want the Boggart for them, and I'll be right in, just give me a minute," he said.

"Right," she said, leaving again.

"Well, I will see you at the party then, if I don't see you before," Eriol said, rising from the rock.

"Sure," Touya said, not watching as the smaller man left.

He was left in peace now, until Li finally came out of the school, his scowl darker than Touya had ever seen it.

"Should I assume your first class didn't go well?" he asked.

"They're idiots, they all seemed to think that it was all a big game," he said.

"They'll learn," he said.

"They'd better," he growled, plunking down on the rock.

"So, what was it you wanted?" Li asked.

Touya picked up the velvet wrapped bundle and flipped the cloth back to reveal the mirror inside.

"It's a mirror," Li said blankly.

"Yes, it is. It's linked to the new card, the Spy," he said.

"What does that have to do with me?"

"The mirror isn't for me, I can see through the eyes of the card. It feels right that it is you that receives it," Touya said.

"How does it work?"

"Once I send the card out, you simply need to touch this section of the frame, and tell it to reveal, the mirror will then show you whatever the Spy is seeing, to stop it, you touch the section again, and tell it to withdraw," he said.

"Can I direct the card at all using the mirror?"

"No, but it will be instructed to stay close to Voldemort, if it locates him."

"I thought you didn't want to get anymore involved than you already had?" Li asked, folding the cloth carefully around the mirror once more.

"I don't, and if I have my way, this will be the end of my involvement in this war," Touya shrugged, rising from the rock.

"You don't sound very confident about that," Li said, standing too.

"I think that choice is a luxury that I won't have, sooner or later, but I'm damned if I'm going quietly. See you at the Halloween party, Gaki," Touya said, striding off without a backward glance.

Li sighed and looked down at the velvet wrapped mirror, hefted it into a more comfortable position to carry it, and started inside.

/x/

Touya glanced out of the corner of his eye at the ghost which glided beside him as he and Yuki headed up to the school on the evening of the party. Kero had reluctantly agreed to stay and watch the shop, on the condition that they brought him something nice back.

"Why have you summoned me here tonight, 'nii-chan?" Sakura asked.

"It's a surprise, Kaijuu, don't be so impatient," he told her.

"What kind of a surprise, it isn't as if anyone other than you can see me," she pouted.

"That's not true of where we're going tonight, you'll like it, I promise," he said, slipping through the gate and starting up the long driveway to the school.

"It's a castle," she said, her eyes sparkling with delight.

"Yes, it is, but that isn't the surprise," he said with a faint smile.

Minerva McGonagall was on the door when they walked up.

"Welcome, Albus said you were coming tonight, but who is the young lady? I thought we knew all of the young people around here," she asked.

"Hoee? You can see me?" Sakura squeaked.

"Of course I can see you, why would I not?" she asked.

"My sister is used to only people such as me being able to see spirits, McGonagall-san,"

"Oh my, well, come along inside, the staff are all in the great hall, waiting for the first of the students to come down," she said.

"Thank you," he said, and they stepped past her.

Minerva watched them go, thinking sadly that the girl looked to have been of an age with their older students, such a waste of a young life.

Akizuki was the first to see them as they stepped into the great hall, and she gasped, startled.

"What is it?" Syaoran asked, turning to see what had so surprised the guardian.

"Sakura?" he gasped, stunned.

She looked equally as floored to see him there, and glided over, stopping just in front of him.

"Syaoran, I have missed you so much," she breathed, reaching out, but stopping just short of touching him.

"I…I don't understand," he stammered, looking to Touya for an explanation.

"You never got a chance to say goodbye, and now you can," Touya said bluntly, walking away.

"What on Earth is going on?" Poppy asked as Syaoran and Sakura slipped out of the room, looking for somewhere more private to talk.

"Sakura-chan and Li-san were very much in love, but Sakura-chan was killed very young, while he was away from her. Touya-san must have brought her this evening because of the properties of the school which make ghosts visible to non psychics," Kaho told the medi-witch.

"How romantic," Poppy sighed.

Yukito saw Touya roll his eyes as he overheard this, and put a hand on his shoulder, guiding him further away from the gossiping women.

Eriol was standing talking to Snape, and they ended up there.

"Ah, Touya-san, I believe you will remember Professor Snape," Eriol said.

"Indeed, I heard that you had gained guardianship of your Godson, after his father's passing. Congratulations," he said.

"Thank you, Mr. Kinomoto. It was quite a blow to Draco, but we are pleased he did not end up with strangers," Snape said.

The first of the students drifted in then, and Snape excused himself, most of the teachers moving off now to their chaperoning positions. Eriol looked at Touya and Yukito.

"I saw the mirror that you gave to Li-kun. It's a lovely piece of work," he said.

"The workmanship is Ollivander's; I simply completed the spell work on it," Touya shrugged.

"Ah, and have you decided when to release the card?"

"It's already gone, it hasn't located its target yet though, I'll let him know when it does."

"Good, good. Have you given any thought to Christmas yet? Tomoyo-chan and her girlfriend have already accepted," Eriol asked.

"It would be nice to see her again. We would like to accept, thank you, Hiiragizawa-san," he said.

"Good, Tomoyo-chan will be thrilled to see you again too," he nodded.

"Had you already told her you'd invited us?" Touya asked.

"No, she doesn't even know we've found you, it will be a surprise for her," Eriol said with his trademark smirk.

He looked past Touya then, his smile turning more normal.

"Hello you three, is everything all right?" he asked.

Touya turned too, and saw that the Gryffindor trio was approaching them.

"Everything is fine, professor Hiiragizawa, Harry just wanted to thank Mr… um, your friend…"

"Ah, I forgot you hadn't met properly. Kinomoto-san, Tsukishiro-san, this is Miss. Granger, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter," Hiiragizawa said, introducing them.

Yukito smiled brightly, while Touya eyed the three levelly.

/x/

Syaoran led Sakura up to the astronomy tower in the end, there wasn't likely to be anyone else up there during the party, so they wouldn't be disturbed here.

"Oh, Syaoran-kun, it's beautiful here, you are so lucky," the shimmering spirit said, looking out over the darkened countryside, toward the mountains.

"I knew you'd like it here, it's just a shame you can't see it during the day…unless…."

"No, I'll only be here tonight," she said, turning to face him once more.

"I've decided I'm probably going to reincarnate. The spirit world is beautiful, and its great having mother and father together there, but…I think I missed out on a lot of this world, and I would like to experience more of life, even if I will be someone completely different," she said quietly.

"Oh, does your brother know?" he asked, unsure what else to say to that.

"Of course he does," she laughed.

"I wish…I should have been there," he sighed.

"What difference would that have made Syaoran? There would have been nothing you could have done to change it," she said.

"Maybe, but…"

"Syaoran, nothing can change what happened. 'Nii-san was right, we never got a chance to really say goodbye, even when you went away that last time, we didn't say goodbye, for fear of jinxing ourselves. We have tonight, we should make the most of it," she chided.

"You're right," he said, looking back out over the darkness of the forbidden forest for a moment.

"Come on, I'll show you around a little, and then maybe…we could dance," he said, hoping the darkness hid his blushing.

"That would be nice," she said, following him back down from the tower.

/x/

Yukito came back to where Eriol was standing, after having been persuaded onto the dance floor by Akizuki, to find Eriol was now standing alone.

"Where's To-ya?" he asked, glancing around the room, and finding that he couldn't see the tall figure anywhere.

"He slipped out a little while ago; I think the noise may have been annoying him. He won't have gone far without letting you know," Eriol said.

"Ah, excuse me then, I shall go and find him," Yukito said.

He found that he hadn't gone that far at all, he was sitting on the steps outside the huge main doors, staring out into the darkness.

"What are you doing out here, koi?" Yukito asked.

"Avoiding being asked to dance by any more giggling schoolgirls," he said bluntly.

"It wouldn't kill you to dance with one or two of them," Yukito laughed.

"In the unlikely event that I want to dance, it will be with you, and only you," Touya snorted.

"Come on then," Yukito said, rising to his feet and holding out one hand to Touya.

"I'm not going to dance in front of all of those people," Touya said.

"Then dance with me here," he suggested. They could still hear the music drifting out across the entrance hall.

Touya caught the hand he was still holding out, tugging gently to pull Yukito down into his lap.

"I'll dance with you when we get home, we can annoy Kero-chan," he offered.

"Deal," Yukito smiled, twisting around in Touya's lap to kiss him.

"Do you think Sakura-chan and Li-kun are all right?" Yukito asked, glancing up at the imposing edifice of the castle when he broke the kiss.

"They're fine, we'll go back in, in a little while, they will be coming back down to dance," Touya said.

"Shame they can't dance properly," Yukito sighed.

"Hmm? Yes, I suppose it is," Touya said, his eyes going thoughtful.

He pulled the deck out, turning over the top card, and smiling at the Create, turning the card over thoughtfully between his fingers as he turned it over in his mind.

"What are you going to do?" Yukito asked, getting up to allow Touya to rise as he summoned his staff.

"I'm going to use Create to give Sakura a tangible form, just for tonight. I think until midnight, isn't that the usual thing for fairytales?" he said with a wry smile.

"That is so sweet," Yukito said brightly.

"Shut up," Touya growled automatically, making his love giggle.

They stepped into the entrance hall just as Sakura and Syaoran came down the main staircase.

"Is there a problem, Kinomoto?" Syaoran asked, his hand drifting toward his amulet as he registered that the Card Master had his staff in hand, along with one of the cards.

"No, come outside a moment, both of you, I don't really want to do this in full view of the whole school," Touya said, gesturing to where the doors to the Great Hall stood wide open.

"What is it, 'nii-chan?" Sakura asked.

"Just a thought I had, come on, it's a surprise," he said.

Li eyed him dubiously, but Sakura bounced over without hesitation, trusting her brother unquestioningly.

Once they were outside, Touya waved Sakura to stand a short distance from him, and released Create. The card already knew what was required, the spirit danced around Sakura for a moment, getting the measure of the task, and then swirled into ribbons of color, wrapping and covering the spirit form completely.

"Oh, 'nii-san, thank you," she breathed, her fingers reaching out to touch the cold, rough stones of the wall experimentally.

"Yeah, well…you have until midnight, Cinder-kaijuu, don't waste the time out here," he said grouchily, looking away in embarrassment.

Li bowed slightly to Touya, and then reverently reached out and took Sakura's hand in his own, leading her back inside.

Tbc


End file.
